Hitome-Chan's Coding And Codeine
by MemoriesofHitomeChan
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, when he meets an unexpected travelling companion he remembers what it's like to be around people, and it scares him in a way he has never known. AU Nico/Percy Percico, Perico, Pernico, Nicercy, PercyxNico, NicoxPercy. Posted with permission.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, when he meets an unexpected travelling companion he remembers what it's like to be around people, and it scares him in a way he has never known. AU Nico/Percy

 **Chapter One:** Disinfected

What if the world doesn't end the way we think it's going to? What if, and don't mind me I just lived through it all, the human race doesn't blow each other up with nuclear warheads; what if war and famine and lack of food isn't what does us in? Have you ever thought about that? To tell you the truth neither did I, I was just a kid, you know? I didn't think about the end of the world, didn't care about it being my last few days on earth. But that was before The Mist had started taking over.

It wasn't AIDs or any of those other horrible terminal diseases out there, just a hyperactive version of the common cold. We were just an anti-disinfectant, overly sterilized world and that made us weak, prone to sicknesses. The life of a germ can be brief, but the way we treat them we breed them, make them better, faster acting, more deadly. We were stupid, bacteria are like cockroaches, you can get rid of them for a little while, but eventually they always come back.

Humans, we're not like cockroaches. It takes us years, centuries to build their kinds of number and then we're overpopulated and without resources and still dying.

We're a fucking joke, really. Or, at least we were. Humans are pretty scarce now. It's funny, you know, that even with the people gone the streetlights still come on because they're preprogrammed that way; the red lights still change because that's the way they're made, the world still turns because that's the way it came into creation. But, in my world God didn't come back, Jesus didn't save us, we killed ourselves even if disease hadn't wiped us out then greed and consumption would have.

I don't know, maybe a year of walking deserted streets had left me bitter. But, that's funny too because I was bitter before The Mist back when I was just a high school flunkie with no lease on life, back when I thought wearing leather jackets and mean looks would keep the bullies away, back when the memory of my mother's death still hurt. Now everyone was dead and that kind of numbed all the pain, numbed just about every damn thing else too.

I don't know why I survived, maybe I just have a higher tolerance for this kind of stuff, I've never really gotten very sick as an adult. Well, I guess I'm an adult, I'm nineteen now though you still can't really tell it by looking at me, people—when there were people—always put me between fifteen and seventeen.

When I was a kid I was always sick, colds, fevers, sinuous infections, bronchitis, the works. It made me a stronger older kid I think, built up my immune system. Either way, here I was, walking across what used to be Idaho and to tell you the truth I wasn't even sure what part of Idaho I was in, the car I hotwired had run out of gas about two miles back and me and Mrs. O'Leary were on foot to the nearest town so I could find some food for us both, and maybe somewhere to sleep.

Oh, Mrs. O'Leary, she's my dog. Well, she wasn't at first but who's going to tell me I can't have a dog? My dad always told me I couldn't, but, you know he's not around anymore either. She was a German Sheppard/Great Dane/Rottweiler mutt so she was pretty big, big enough to stand a few inches taller than my waist. She was great for killing rabbits and squirrels and stuff when food was scarce, and she would bring it back to me and I would cook it up on a makeshift fire and we would feast like kings; you find that you're able to stomach just about anything when the local McDonald's- and subsequently every other McDonald's has been out of order for a year and a half.

I had to chuckle to myself as I passed through more fields of wheat because it didn't seem like it had been that long since the last ravages of Mist had taken the last victim and then disappeared completely. That's the thing, when a disease doesn't have a vessel it can survive in its pretty useless, until we start to rebuild and start popping pills for the most minute of problems again. Then it'll be 2014 all over again, the year of the Apocalypse in one sense.

The word "apocalypse" was always scarier than the event itself, I was expecting earthquakes and tornadoes and flash flood and swarms of locusts. What we got was probably just as bad, after a while you just don't have anywhere to put your dead so you have to burn them.

That's something I'll never forget, the smell of mass burning flesh. It is nauseating and stomach turning and indescribable by any other word but horrific. They tried to be civilized about it, about getting rid of the deceased, because we were a fucking civilized society, everything had to be neat and proper. But you couldn't disguise those plumes of thick yellow-white smoke coming out of the crematories, couldn't disguise that malodorous stench that flooded into the world as soon as those doors were open to the buildings in which those terrifying acts occurred. So many dead so quickly meant a lot of burning, a lot of "funerals", and a lot of mourning.

I was all mourned out I supposed, death wasn't something new to me. It seemed to just be a part of my life from a very early age. I sighed and continued on the road, trying not to think too much about the past. Thinking back is what killed you nowadays, memories of the past—ghosts of what used to be were haunting things and if you dwelled on them you would be swallowed up by sadness. Despair was almost worse than a knife to the heart because it cut just as deeply and would leave you bleeding out. That was why you didn't open old wounds, that was why you lived in the now and worried about survival only.

There was a sign proclaiming a town in less than seven miles, the sign had been tagged so many times over I couldn't read the name, but I didn't care because a town meant that there was at least shelter, and perhaps a semblance of food. I was getting tired of roasted squirrel, as delicious as it sounds, and seven miles was not that far considering how far I had come.

My home, my real home before all of this, was back in California, West Hollywood to be specific. I had never had much of a life before, a father who worked too much, a sister who couldn't look after me anymore because she had her own problems, and the death of my mother hanging over all of us.

I had been just that odd kid in school, a loner—or at least I tried to be. Before I had never felt social, now I just didn't have the chance to feel it and I didn't feel any different for it. When I was in school I had been small, an easy target, and my disposition to not make friends kept others at a distance from me; well, everyone but the people who wanted to shove me against lockers or into bathroom stalls. I didn't miss that. I didn't miss going to class just to get bored, it might sound weird but the world ending wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. I was good at keeping myself alive; I wasn't so good at focusing in classrooms. I'm ADHD so it's pretty tough for me to focus on some stuff for too long.

That's why seven miles didn't seem like a lot to me, I had already walked three to that sign and now I could see that outline of what used to be probably a really productive town. Absently I thought about how my feet hurt and how my stomach was clenching, how tired I was from just going all the time, but after a while it sort of becomes like a handicap, something you learn to live with. And I was hardly affected by it much anymore.

Mrs. O'Leary must have felt how fatigued I was because she shoved her head under my hand; I scratched her ears and rubbed her long neck. She was all black, even her eyes, and if I were someone else I might have been scared of the giant hundred and thirty pound mutt but when I found her nearly nine months ago she had been just a puppy, and now she was my best friend. Was it sad that a dog was my only real friend; probably. But I don't have anyone else around to tell me how sad it was, and I didn't care. Mrs. O'Leary was mostly tooth and fang, but once you got past that she was incredibly sweet.

"We've got to get you something to eat, girl," I told her and she whined in agreement, licking her lips and then my fingers. I smiled and patted her again. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth and she panted as we started walking again. The thing is with all the humans gone animals had started to slowly but sure come back to what was supposed to be their original habitats. I had to hold Mrs. O'Leary close so she wouldn't go flying at the deer that trotted by us, first we had to access the area. It was a rustic looking place, but it had none of its former splendor I'm sure. There were cars broken down on the roads, no longer in use, some of them still had bodies inside: people who must have died from Mist when it was on its last leg. At the very end the disease had become virulent, leaving you with less than a week to live if contracted. It spread too quickly to make an antidote, and it was gone too fast for the results to even sink in of what happened. Now the effects were quite clear as we passed through the ghost town. The last time I had seen a town was when I had passed through quite a few states in my high-jacked vehicle, stopping only for the essentials.

I sighed and we continued into town.

Do you know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful for Wal-Mart, it was a great one stop shop and if I was lucky sometimes I would find one where the freezers were still working which meant the food inside was still kind of good. As I walked around the worldwide convenience store, I contemplated getting some new clothes, with the season changing to Summer jeans and jackets would start getting pretty unforgiving.

Mrs. O'Leary barked and I looked up, a large tabby cat was looking back at us, it hissed and arched its back. I put my hand on Mrs. O'Leary's head. "No, leave him alone," I said. I knew she was hungry but there was no need to just kill the poor cat. We walked down an aisle and I grabbed a box. "Here," I told her and ripped it open, inside were those Beggin' Strip things for dogs, they might have been a little stale but I think she would've enjoyed them regardless. Pouring out all the faux bacon on the ground I watched her set to work on it.

Now I just had to worry about myself, I left her to her own devices and made my way down more aisles.

Passing the tabby again I smiled at him, I had always liked animals better than people anyway. Going over to him I scratched underneath his chin and the thing purred at me. "What're you doing here, little guy?" Say what you will about me talking to them but animals don't judge you.

Another thing I should have been ashamed of feeling before, as if it was important now, was that a long time ago I had been struggling with my sexuality. I didn't like girls, not the ways a guy my age should have liked girls; in fact, I liked guys my age instead of the girls. Seemed like something stupid to be so afraid of now, right? But back then I just didn't want to let my dad down anymore than I already had, I wasn't smart, wasn't good at sports, I was alright at playing guitar and drums but that was about it, I never had the delusion of being some big important person. If anything I would have worked a factory job probably, or with my dad in the mortuaries, him being a mortician and all.

See, death really was all around my family.

I stood and the tabby cat rubbed itself against my leg, maybe, I thought, I had another companion for the road. I don't think I was lonely, lonely meant that there had to have been important people in your life before for you to miss. I wasn't lonely because I had always been alone, always. But that wasn't here or there, I looked over some of the cans on the shelves. All things that needed to be microwaved, but I don't think it would have mattered either way.

I was about to open a can of Chef-Boy-R-Dee when I heard something shuffling, and then there was a growl. "Mrs. O'Leary?" I asked, but something gray caught the corner of my eye. I picked up the cat and backed up. "Mrs. O'Leary!" I called and whistled, it was probably a bad idea to do that though because two large, gray wolves came around the corner, both snarling at me, black lips pulled back revealing pinkish-red gums and large white canines contrasting frighteningly. "Mrs. O'Leary!" I nearly screamed now, I heard her loud whooping bark echo somewhere in the store. The wolves heard it as well because they looked at one another, probably deciding which of them should go for me and the cat and which should go investigate the sound. Without much preamble the larger of the two stepped forward, obviously the alpha of the small pack. He grinned at me with no humor in that bizarre way that animals grin and his companion or mate went bounding past us.

The sound of two large bodies colliding made me want to turn, then I heard the snapping of jaws and I couldn't take it anymore. I spun and saw Mrs. O'Leary slashing her claws across the wolf's broad chest, leaving dark and angry red claw marks. Mrs. O'Leary squared off with it, the she-wolf lunged forward only to be bitten into roughly around the collar. I heard the bones snap in the she-wolf's neck and Mrs. O'Leary threw her body to the side. There was a whoosh of air over my head and I looked up just in time to see the alpha leaping over me, Mrs. O'Leary seemed ready for him though because at the same time she launched herself forward. They both pushed back and stared each other down, circling until Mrs. O'Leary was standing between me and the wolf.

I chucked the can of Spaghetti O's at the giant canine and it hit him squarely against the ribs, the impact was so hard he whined and then his eyes were trained on me. Penetrating yellow pupils made the breath in my lungs hitch and I had trouble staring back at him. He was angry now, what he had thought would be a quick meal had turned into something utterly troublesome. Froth dripped from his large jaws and the hair on his haunches bristled upward, he leaned his head forward, neck down eyes up so as not to give Mrs. O'Leary an easy opening.

He was an old wolf, scarred with nearly white cuts all over his body and a vertical slash down his left eye that spoke of his ability to fight.

His ability to survive. That's what it was all about anyway, but we were tenacious as well.

I readied another can of meat-by product in one hand and the cat held close in my other cradling it against me as best I could he was trying to crawl up my neck, hissing at the wolf probably as frightened as I felt. There was a beat where none of us a made a move, the only sound was the tabby and I tried to quiet him. I raised my arm and hurled the can, hitting the beast on the nose; then the silence broke. A horrific snarl ripped from him and he pounded forward, ready to kill. Mrs. O'Leary tried to bite him but she was still young and very inexperienced when it came to defending herself and her teeth seemed to glance off of his haunches. He bucked her backwards and she skittered across the floor paws scraping the ground, quickly she stood again and she gave a low growl, but we all jumped at the sound of something very unfamiliar.

It had been a long time since I had heard actual gunfire, I don't think I remembered it properly until that very moment and I nearly pissed myself because of it. The cat's claws dug into my neck but I didn't care so much as a figure moved into my line of sight. All I could see was the point of the gun, but, we weren't allowed much time to recover as the wolf jumped at Mrs. O'Leary and sunk his teeth into her back leg.

I think I screamed, I can't remember, it felt like I was screaming but the sound of a bullet whizzing through the air and the fact that my dog had just been attacked made me a little distracted. The wolf hit the ground hard in front of me and I kicked it away, collapsing beside Mrs. O'Leary. I looked at her leg, flesh had been ripped away and muscle looked as if it had been cut, steam poured out of the wound and the sickening smell of blood hit my nose. I felt tears prickle my eyes.

"I'll get some bandages, we'll fix her right up," A voice said and it didn't occur to me how strange it was that I hadn't spoken to anyone in at least ten months, I just nodded and whoever it was went away. Mrs. O'Leary laid her head in my lap and licked at my hand.

"You're going to be okay," I told her, and my voice sounded thick in my own ears. I swallowed a lump and felt tears streaming out of my eyes. I think that's why I started wandering in the first place, I was tired of death. Every few towns I passed through people would be on their last legs and I just couldn't stay and watch them all die, I couldn't burden them to feed me and themselves too, couldn't ask for shelter when they barely had any themselves. I don't know where I was going, but it just felt right to be on the move, to leave it all behind.

Mrs. O'Leary whined in my lap and I stroked her fur. "Shh," I shushed. When my dad had finally passed from Mist I told myself I would stop getting close to anything living, living things let you down by passing away, but I couldn't leave a defenseless puppy to fend for herself on the cold streets, just like I couldn't leave the damned cat curled around my neck in a dark store by himself. I nearly cursed from how much it hurt seeing her laying there in pain and I just cried that much harder.

"Hold her, she's not going to thank me for this," I looked up and saw the face of the gunslinger from before. It was a guy, but I could tell that by how deep his voice was. At first I couldn't really remember any details about him, I just held Mrs. O'Leary's head down on my lap and he uncapped something and poured it on the wound. Immediately she was howling in pain.

"What the fuck is that!" I screamed at him.

"Alcohol to clean the bite," He said working quickly. "Hold her tighter, she's upset now." He dabbed at the wound, then he pulled out a needle and thread and he held the point to her. "I'm going to stitch it closed, ready?" I didn't know what else to do, I just nodded. Quickly he was threading the needle through her skin and she was shaking in my arms. I shushed her again and cooed in her ear. He dabbed more alcohol on the stitching as soon as it was done then ran some kind of salve down the new network of stitches. "Neosporin," He said as if reading my mind, then he set to wrapping her leg in bandages. I was at a loss for words, not that I was really very talkative at all and he dusted his hands off on his legs after he tied the wrapping off. "There, she should be good, let her sleep and get something in her to eat. She might be limping for a while but I think if you keep putting this on it she'll heal up in no time." He handed me the Neosporin.

I looked down at Mrs. O'Leary, she didn't seem to want to move and I wasn't going to force her. "Th-thank you," I said, trying to remember how these sorts of things went.

"No problem," He smiled and I realized we were about the same age. "I'm Percy by the way," He said and extended his hand to me. For a moment I just stared at it. "It's for shaking, you know? Making new friends,"

"I don't normally make friends," I told him before I could check myself; he had just saved my dog. "Sorry," I said and took his hand. "I'm Nico," Well, I guess now would have been as good time as any to introduce myself. "Nico di Angelo," I continued, when was the last time I had said my full name? Too long ago, probably.

"Percy Jackson, then, formal Nico di Angelo," Percy smiled again. "What brings you through this way? I don't think I've seen you around town before." Was he serious? Of course he hadn't seen me around town before; there was no one in town. "Oh, you've got my cat," He grabbed the thing around my neck and held it close to him. "That's where you got off to, Tyson."

"Tyson?" I asked.

"Yeah," He replied. "Named him after my brother." As he said that there was a tightness around his eyes that I couldn't mistake, it was the sadness of loss. I was…rusty at consoling anyone, I had really never done it before.

"Oh, sorry," I said as sympathetically as I could, I think it sounded legit because of the leftover emotion from seeing my dog hurt so badly. Was it selfish that I hadn't been so close to anyone but my dog before? I'm sorry but that's just how it was, I had lost people too, I tried to imagine how Percy must have felt when his brother had passed, if it felt anything like how I did when I thought Mrs. O'Leary was going to close her eyes forever then I really was sorry.

"Don't worry about it," He said and he clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Where're you staying?"

"Staying? I-I hadn't thought that far ahead, we just got in town," I told him. "I guess we're staying in here, there's no way I can make her move much just yet," I said looking down at my dog, she was breathing deeply against my leg.

"Alrighty, I'll go get some tents and some sleeping bags, did you know the electricity still works in this place? I can cook us up something nice to eat and we can get some rest,"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there cowboy," I replied suddenly. "Thanks for helping my dog out and everything but I think it would be best if you just left us be, we didn't come here looking for companions."

Living things let you down.

"You're not serious are you?" He asked me; giving me the sort of hard stare you gave someone you knew your entire life when they were being dumb. I don't think I liked his familiarity. "You think wolves are the worst things around here? There are coyotes and bears around this way too, not to mention all kinds of strays who would kill you just as soon as look at you because they were so hungry. You're sticking with me, kid, I think we can help each other."

"You don't even know me, I might be some murderous raving lunatic," I replied haughtily.

"Are you a murderous raving lunatic?" He asked with a small, smug smile.

"No, but that's besides the point," I said back, feeling my cheeks flush.

"You just sit there with your dog, and watch Tyson, I'll be right back with some stuff." I stared at him, he had shoulder length dark brown hair that curled at the ends, and piercing blue eyes. He looked like the kind of guy that enjoyed watching and playing sports back when there were sports to play, I don't know what you would call it…athletic? That sounded about right, he was very athletic in his cargo shorts and his jacket clad top, the sleeves of his blue hoodie were rolled up to his elbows and underneath was a shirt of plain white. He had probably been one of the cool kids in high school, I think, but now it was just him and me and two animals and this wasn't high school; furthermore I couldn't argue with his logic.

It took us an hour to get everything set up, we moved back into the employee's lounge of Wal-Mart, Percy carrying a drugged Mrs. O'Leary in his arms and me dragging two tents, two sleeping bags, a couple of pillows and a shit ton of frozen groceries, probably freezer burnt beyond edibility but damn it we would try. After getting the tents erected and putting all of our things inside of them Percy turned on an oven that was in the corner of the room next to a refrigerator. It took a while but the thing came on and began heating quickly, I was thankful that it was electric and not gas.

Looking around we found some pans and things under the sink and we started piling hot wings and hot pockets and other junk food things your parents tell you not to eat too much of into the oven and all that was left was for us to sit and wait. Sitting made me tired as I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag, but Percy had thoughts other than sleeping.

"How long've you been on the road?" He asked. I sat back and thought about that. When I had been travelling I hadn't expected to meet anyone, it was throwing all of my plans for a loop and I don't' think I liked that either. But, there was really no point in lying, and even less point in not making conversation; it was the least I could do for him after he had been so kind to me, after he was _still_ being kind to me.

"I—ten months," I said,

"Mm," He replied. "We—I mean, I've been running for about that long too, maybe a year," He sat back. "This is crazy, right? It's like a bad dream I just can't wake up from."

"Yeah," I said, absently leaning back and petting Mrs. O'Leary who was sleeping soundly inside of my tents thanks to some pills from behind the pharmacy counter. At least we didn't have to pay for things anymore; currency sort of loses its value entirely when there's no one to buy things, no one to make things, just no one.

"You're real talkative," He said with his roguish grin, I tried not to notice how handsome he was, and then I tried not to think about futile things like how long it had been since I had brushed my teeth or combed my hair. Those were social cues I had left behind with the last of the people, truth-be-told till now I figured I was the only one of my kind left all around.

"Where did you come from?" I asked.

"Well, I was checking out the armory department, I was running low on ammo but I heard you yelling and your dog barking and I thought I'd help out," He said with a shrug.

"No," My cheeks flushed at how helpless I must have sounded. "I mean why are you here?"

"Oh, well I was kind of marooned in Texas for a while, you wouldn't believe how big it is down there, then I came up through New Mexico and sort of kept coming this way. You're going to Camp Halfblood too, right? That's why people head this way."

"Camp Halfblood?" I asked. "Never heard of it, Summer camp doesn't sound like something I could really get into right now though; and what people, it's just you and me."

"Grover said— well, one of my old friends heard there was this campground in New York and for some reason people had started to just gather there you know, after all The Mist died out, I've heard that it's like the most populated place in America."

"And that's where you're going?"

"That's where _we're_ going," He corrected. "I can't just leave you here all by yourself, how old are you? Like twelve? You'll die out here."

"Twelve?" I asked, I felt my face screw up angrily and he smiled wryly.

"Fourteen?"

"I'm nineteen, asshole," I nearly growled, my face was hot and I knew I was blushing. "Goddamn it what makes you think I want your help anyway? Me and Mrs. O'Leary were doing just fine before you showed," I really don't think I liked his familiarity now, I didn't like the way he kept smiling at me either.

"You got a gun?" He asked and I shook my head no. "Do you have a weapon of any kind to defend yourself?" I scoffed and turned my head away from him.

"Who asked you?"

"It's just common decency," He said. "Besides, you can't tell me you don't want someone to talk to?"

"I talk to my dog, thank you very much," I said but it sounded stupid coming out of my mouth and he laughed. Laughter, it was strange, I found myself trying to analyze it, it was weird. Was it a good laugh or a bad laugh and for that matter why did I want to hear him laugh again?

"I don't think she does much along the way of answering," He smiled.

"What do you have to be so happy about, anyway?" I asked. "All you've done since you saved me was smile, this isn't a very funny situation," I said, angry suddenly. How could he be so calm about all this? I still didn't know who the hell he was but he was being so damn friendly. I think he was purposely trying to contradict my idea of what people were. People were greedy and didn't stop to help others unless it profited them, the thought crossed my mind that maybe my company might have benefited him but I pushed that thought away. My friendship wasn't something that he could use to help himself out, it couldn't have been that.

"I'm happy because I'm still alive," Percy replied, his smile more tame now, almost—dare I say it, gentle? He shrugged. "All my life my mom told me these really scary stories about people going up to Heaven and everyone else that didn't believe in it being left behind to fend for themselves, then all this happened and she couldn't stop coughing, she started hacking up blood and then a piece of lung and it wasn't long after that that she died. My stepdad died too, and—" He paused. "Anyway, I think I'm just happy because I'm still around, I'm happy because I still have a chance to live and that's the greatest thing in the world isn't it? Living?" Again I just stared at him; I just didn't have the words. He ruffled my hair and stood up. "You might learn something from me, like how to smile. You look like you frown way too much, anyway." He smiled and went over to the oven. "I think this stuff is done." I stood up too and then we started divvying out equal shares of food, it was a smorgasbord of junk and it was nice and hot. After we ate in silence I found myself yawning. "Get some sleep, Neeks, we'll stay here for a few days and stock up then I think we should go find a nice comfy car in the parking lot and start making our way to New York."

"First of all, don't call me Neeks," I said. "Second, I still don't think I'm going anywhere with you." He laughed.

"I like you, Nico; you've got a lot of pride." He clapped me on the arm and I just remained silent. "Get some sleep, buddy." I didn't say another word, I climbed into my tent where my dog lay sleeping and I zipped it up. "Good night," Percy said and I didn't reply. I curled up next to Mrs. O'Leary after I wormed my way into my sleeping bag and soon I was sleeping harder than I could remember in a long time.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to at least go see if there was a real Camp Halfblood.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Posted with Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, when he meets an unexpected travelling companion he remembers what it's like to be around people, and it scares him in a way he has never known. AU Nico/Percy

 **Chapter Two:** Sanity

I was awoken later that night by Mrs. O'Leary's growling; before I could promptly tell her to shut up I heard my tent unzipping. I don't know why fear flared in my chest, but it did. I should have known Percy was just like all the rest, maybe he wasn't about to come in and tease me but I was pretty sure I was about to die. A part of me knew this was going to happen, knew that he was too good to be true. Some knight in shining armor, maybe I should have asked _him_ if he was a murderous, raving lunatic. It was pitch black save for the small circular light outside of my tent and when the zipping was finally done I almost let go of Mrs. O'Leary, figuring if I was going to die I could at least leave him bloodied and bruised.

A lantern stuck its way into my tent, followed by an arm and then Percy's smiling face, "Hi," He said cheerily.

"If you're going to kill me just do it fast," I said, in the light of the iridescent lantern I could see the shadows of his face, he was pretty full cheeked. He gave me a quizzical stare and then laughed.

"You're funny, scoot over,"

"What? Why?" I asked, and then he whistled looking at Mrs. O'Leary, expecting her to stand; her ears poked up and she licked his hand but when she didn't move he turned his vision back over to me.

"Mind sending her outside?" He asked.

"No, if you get too close I want her to bite your face off," I said resting a hand on her head. "What are you doing in here?" He sat back on his haunches, still trying to get Mrs. O'Leary's to leave, and then he shrugged.

"Well," He said lackadaisically. "A man's got certain needs, right, Nico? I was in my tent and I didn't feel like doing it by myself." Wait. Did he really just say that? I couldn't believe it, if he could see me he could see I was staring at him like he was the craziest man on earth, and I might not have been too far off on that. "Come on, don't make me go back in there and jerk it alone, we're both warm, and it's been a really long time for both of us I'm sure."

"What-what are you saying?" I asked, I think I was still sleeping; maybe this was a dream, or a hallucination.

"Hey, I'll go first, right?" He set his lantern down and began pulling off his shirt.

"Percy!" I said and Mrs. O'Leary laid her head down on the ground, covering her eyes. I'm sure that burning in my face from before was a blush; it occurred to me that I forgot what blushing felt like, it just didn't happen too much to me anymore.

"What? You've been staring at me all day, I figured either you were interested or I just had a very entertaining face," He started to unbuckle his pants. "Are you going to get undressed?"

"I-I don't know what you think is going to happen—"

"Look," He said. "I'm not going to force you to do this, but I think you would really like it." He reached behind him out of the tent and pulled in a cylindrical tube. "I got lube. Come on, man, you're single, I'm single, it's not really gay if there aren't any girls around."

"Would there be something wrong with it being gay?" I really had to watch what I let come out of my mouth, my cheek to tongue ratio seemed a bit off. Percy smiled and I groaned.

"So you _are_ gay." He said.

"Why? Are you?" I asked; I was still really tired. I even yawned, but I was a bit more theatrical about it than I probably should have been.

"I wasn't, but you know after a while a warm body beside you just feels nice, you know?" He asked and he began shuffling out of his pants. "So what do you say, can we do this? You're not a virgin are you?"

"I—that's none of your business!" I nearly shouted, Mrs. O'Leary barked. "Get out of here," I said to her, irritated. She looked at me forlornly but stood and walked past Percy, limping heavily. Suddenly I felt bad for making her move at all. Quickly Percy zipped up the tent after her.

"I'll take it slow, I remember being a virgin," He said and crawled forward, I kicked his shoulder and he fell backwards.

"You get out too," I said trying not to think about how this was the most unabashed flesh I had ever seen outside of the internet. But he got back up and sat Indian style in front of me, just out of my kicking range.

"I took a big risk coming in here you know?" He said. "You and your big scary hellhound out there, and I think you're at least attracted to me—"

"You're full of bullshit," I interrupted and he laughed again. It was such a nice laugh.

"You're still blushing," He said. Blushing wasn't my problem, it was below the waist that I was having trouble managing, he crawled forward on his hands and knees and I tried not to think how very predatory he looked in the light of the Coleman lantern, how seductive it seemed. I was a virgin, but I guess that went without saying, and I did think he was very…nice looking but, you don't fuck the first guy you meet in a thousand miles of anywhere. I had always had the dumb romantic notion that my first time would be with a guy I had known for more than a day in a bed, not with some stranger in a tent in the Wal-Mart employee's lounge.

Suddenly Percy was straddling my hips and as snappy as I was feeling I couldn't manage anything other than a very meek yelp. "I'll be gentle," He said in a low, tender voice, his fingers were wrapped around the hem of my shirt and absently I felt him pull it over my head.

"Percy—" I said in a small voice and he placed his lips on the side of my neck. It felt so good; I can't remember ever feeling so good. He shushed me and pushed me back and I felt my heart hammering in my chest, then his fingers were quickly working the button on my pants, he pulled them down my legs after making me lift my butt. He sat in my lap and smiled wider.

"You're hard," He said and I felt my entire chest color with my face.

"Get out," I said again and he kissed my lips, it was my first kiss. Damn it I think I should have been more upset but I wrapped my arms around his neck as he deepened it, his tongue darted inside of my mouth expertly and I couldn't do much but lay there and let him kiss me, I didn't know what I was doing. "I don't…have much experience," I said as he pulled back.

"You're doing just fine," He smiled wiggling his hips, I almost came from just the motions.

"How many times have you done this?" I asked, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer. Instead of telling me he kissed me again though and this time I tried to be responsive, I think I kissed him back but really I was only pushing my lips out against his, I pulled back feeling flustered. "If I say stop…" I said and he nodded.

"I won't go any further if you say stop," He agreed, then he stood up and pulled off his boxers.

"You're not—" I observed wide-eyed.

"Circumcised, no," He answered with a chuckle. "Is that a problem?"

"No…it's not…it's just that I've never seen another guy's… I…just…" Percy Jackson had made me speechless three times in one day and it was the first time I had ever met him. I don't think I liked that about him either. "You're huge." He laughed again and sat down on my lap, he was very warm.

"It just looks that way," He shrugged. "You want to keep going?"

"I don't know what to do," I told him; there was no point in pretending like I did. In a day and a half Percy had saved me, fed me, and now I had the very distinct feeling that he was about to fuck me, maybe that was just the way things worked nowadays. I was pretty sure Percy had known other people before he had met me—I mean other people after The Mist had happened. He had probably been on the move with someone else; he just seemed too social to be by himself.

"Just lay back and let me do all the work," He smiled. "Lift your ass again," I did and he dragged my underwear down my legs. Our middles met and a shudder ran through me, what was this feeling? Lust? Had I felt lust before? I couldn't remember properly, really I couldn't remember anything but the feeling of Percy's hot lips on my ear as he sat forward, kissing the side of my face softly. "Nico," He said.

"Who?" I asked and blinked and he laughed.

"You, silly," He said playfully and he gripped us both between his right hand. "Open your eyes and watch." He bucked down and another shudder ripped through me, I cussed.

"Shit," I said and he smiled. "Shut up," I glared.

"You're kind of cute, I just noticed that," Percy grinned as he pumped his fist between us, my head fell back and I became an oozing babble of unintelligent words. I felt my eyes squeeze shut and then there was a very sharp nip on my chest and I think I liked it because I wanted him to bite me again. "Open your eyes," He said. "You need to watch."

"I…can't…" I breathed, seconds away from release. My body was completely rigid and everything was white hot, blood pounded in my ears and it occurred to me that I hadn't…pleasured myself at all in all my time on the road. It wasn't part of surviving and I think my mind just sort of shut it out. Now I must have looked dumb with my face screwed up and my arms locked around Percy's neck, gasping and praising the Lord above. Then that glorious feeling of standing on the precipice of sweet release fell away and I felt Percy's body lift off of mine. I opened my eyes, near panic. Had I done something wrong? I told him I didn't know what I was doing. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just didn't want you to cum yet," He shrugged and kissed me. I think that I had to put a stop to the kisses, they meant a lot to me, hell my virginity meant a lot to me but there was something to be said about the connecting of lips. Lips connecting always seemed to be sort of a link to the heart; I didn't know Percy and Percy didn't know me. But before I could continue my train of thought he was on top of me again. "I can't let up on you can I? If I do you're going to change your mind."

"You made my mind up for me," I said and he smirked, touching his lips chastely to mine. "Don't do that," My cheeks flared.

"Don't kiss you?" He asked and I nodded. "Why?"

"Because…" I paused and he wrapped his arms around me. Shit, I nearly lost my train of thought. He didn't care about me, not like this, we didn't know each other. This was stupid. "Just get off of me," I said and I pushed him away, I lost the arousal he had brought forth in me.

"What? What did I do wrong?" He asked, suddenly foreign emotions washed over me. I felt…used, I felt empty suddenly. Who the hell did this guy think he was saving me and then asking me for this kind of favor in return?

I felt dirty because I enjoyed it.

"Get out," I said, I was angry now. There were tears in my eyes threatening to spill out. He opened his mouth again. "GET OUT!" I shouted, Mrs. O'Leary barked loudly and for a second Percy looked dumbfounded, naked and confused he stood up and unzipped the tent, but a pair of snarling jaws sent him backwards. "Down girl," I said and obediently she sat, growling only slightly at Percy as he crawled out of my tent. I sank back down on my small pallet and curled up, Mrs. O'Leary came over to me stiffly and laid her head beside mine, her tongue darted out and licked the side of my face, trying to wash away the tears streaming down my cheeks. I patted her between the ears and turned over.

I felt sick now, God what was wrong with me? He could have had every STD under the sun, he probably just went around finding people, telling them something incredible like there was a place called Camp Halfblood, then when they get their hopes up and let their guards down slightly he slipped in, had sex with them and moved on to the next town to save the next damsel in distress. Not that I was a distressing damsel or anything.

"Nico," His voice called from the other side of the zip door, I looked up and he was staring through at me. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings…or whatever I did, I thought you were enjoying it."

"I don't even fucking know you!" I shouted. "I bet you do this kind of thing all the time, I'm not going to be someone you fucking prey on."

"Wha—where would you even get an idea like that?" He asked. "You're the first person I've seen in months, and the first person who's seemed even slightly inclined to men. I figured since you were a guy you'd understand, right?"

"Understand what?" I asked vehemently. "That you want to fuck and leave?"

"No! Someone's got abandonment issues—"

"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed, my ears were ringing and I don't know if I was still crying but it felt like I was. He was quiet for a minute then he poked his head inside.

"I was kidding, okay?" He said. "That was a bad joke, you're right though I don't know you, but…it's lonely on the road, right? Beggars can't be choosers, I know I'm not your ideal partner either, but I just thought maybe we could help each other out."

"No, fuck, no." I said. "Sex…sex is important to me; I'd rather not have it at all than just have casual flings. I'm a virgin by choice, ass." I don't know how true that was but it sounded good. Sex was important to me; I don't think I was a virgin by choice, I was a virgin by necessity because I _needed_ someone else to make me not one, but like I said it wasn't going to be some guy I just met.

"At least let me back in," Percy said. "My clothes are in there and it's cold out here." I sighed but agreed to let him back in, it's difficult to gauge how long you should be upset when you just don't get upset anymore. I stared at him as he came in; still wearing that damn smile if nothing else. "You freaked out."

"I don't usually…do things like that, with anyone, period." I said with a sort of finality. He sat down in front of me and Mrs. O'Leary growled at him. I shushed her and rubbed her back. "Is anything you've told me real? Are you real, or have I just gone crazy?"

"My dad used to say something," Percy replied. "If they tell you you're crazy don't deny it, because only crazy people deny it, what you should say is: "I'm only as crazy as a sane person has any right to be," He grinned at me. "As for my being real, pinch me." I obliged him. "Ow! Not so hard," He laughed and rubbed his calf where I had pinched the skin.

"Okay, well if you're real then at least start telling me some things about yourself so I know I can trust you, you don't have any STDs do you?"

"No, I don't have any STDs," He chuckled. "I've had sex with all of two people, and it's been protected every time." Then his expression became serene. "I really am sorry though, I didn't know it was something that was that important to you, I was being selfish."

"Shut up," I growled. "You're not allowed to try to make me feel better just yet, you've got like a silver tongue and I don't like it."

"Why do I get the feeling there are a lot of things about me you don't like?" Percy smiled. "Can I at least crawl in beside you?" I thought about saying no but before I even had the chance to he was moving forward. I rolled my eyes but let him come, he sank under the covers and wrapped his arms around my waist. "This is nice," He said contentedly.

"You're a damn liar," I replied. "You didn't put your clothes on," He pressed himself against me and I bit my lip. "Watch it or I really will kick you out."

"Alright, sorry, I just get excited, you feel good." I blushed. "But you should probably get a shower sometime soon," I kicked him in the shin just for good measure and he groaned, I laughed. "I'm just saying, there are some houses around here that the water still works, it might not be the Hilton, but it's a shower."

"If I stink so much you can just leave because—"

"Calm down," I jumped when he swatted my buttocks and he chuckled in my ear. "You're moody, one minute you and me are getting hot and heavy, the next you're crying and kicking me out, and now you're mad because I said you should get a shower."

I paused, was I really that moody? Maybe I was, "Sorry," I said in a small voice. "It's just…been a really long time since I've talked to anyone, I don't even know how anymore, this is pretty uncomfortable for me."

"The talking or me laying here beside you?"

"Both," I admitted. "Just go to sleep, I'm trying not to think about this too much." I sighed.

"I think people need each other, Nico," Percy yawned. "How about this, you lean on me and I'll lean on you, we'll get to know each other in the morning." I nodded. "Good, now please try to calm down, I can feel your heart pounding, I'm not going to hurt you."

I gave a dry chuckle, "I'll try," It wasn't long after that that I actually fell asleep sandwiched between Percy, who had a tight hold around me, and Mrs. O'Leary—who I was beginning to think liked Percy a heck of a lot for letting him back in. If I wasn't yelling at him she didn't seem to mind his presence in the least so I blamed her for the situation I found myself in. But, it was more comfortable than I would likely admit which is why I fell back asleep so quickly, thoughts of being used pushed only slightly to the corners of my mind. Percy seemed sincere at least, but still, and how the hell had he wormed his way back into my room? It was his fucking disarming smile; he could've talked a dragon out of its scales.

When I woke up again the sun was shining in through the small open window located on the westward wall, the sound of chirping birds outside was actually kind of welcome, for a moment sleep wanted to call me again, but I noticed how very cold it was. I rolled over, no Percy, and no Mrs. O'Leary. I sat up and that was when I noticed I was still naked. Shit. Percy had taken my clothes off too, how could I have forgotten that?

I got up and got dressed quickly, nearly falling out of the tent in the process, and then I was rushing out of the backroom and into the large, open store. I whistled for Mrs. O'Leary but instead of her big, clumsy bounding steps I just heard her bark once to answer me. Damn it. I called her this time and still she didn't come. Moving quickly I ran down an aisle and took a turn, then I took another one and called her again. She was close, I moved again, I don't know what I thought Percy might have done, with him I wasn't sure what to think, it wasn't in the plan for me to meet this guy.

Suddenly I was seriously considering finding my dog and just running, if there really was a Camp Halfblood I could find it on my own. That's when I saw them, Mrs. O'Leary lying on the floor with her paws over her nose and Percy re-bandaging her leg. Some "hellhound" as he called had her, leave it to me to find the friendliest killing machine the world had to offer. "You took my dog," I said angrily.

"You were still sleep, I figured she needed to let that bite air for a little while so we've been going around here finding stuff to take with us on our trip," He pointed to a shopping cart not too far away from them filled to the brim with different things. "Come look at her leg, it already looks like its healing." I huffed and walked over to them, surprisingly it did look a whole lot better. Where the stitching sat it looked like the skin was already growing back together.

"I…I still didn't give you permission to take her," I said, I don't know why I just couldn't accept his help, Percy had been nothing but gracious, if not a bit perverted this morning.

"Sorry," He smiled and stood up after tying a rather firm knot, wiping his hands off on his pants. "Hey, about that shower, it'll give us an excuse to find a car,"

"Uh—" I tried but he grabbed my hand.

"Come on, let's get this stuff to the backroom, I need to get my gun," Then the next thing I knew we were walking again, Mrs. O'Leary a lot more slowly than I liked to see, but she didn't seem to mind limping, her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth and she kept trying to lick my hand. After everything was put away I finally got a look at Percy's firearm, it was a handgun, I didn't really know much about them but I was informed that it was a nine millimeter, whatever that meant.

"Why do you have one of those?" I asked.

"For protection," Simple enough.

"And for that matter how do you know how to bandage wounds like that? Where did you learn all this stuff?" Percy looked up at me and then he grinned.

"I did say we would get to know each other today," He laughed and sat on the ground, motioning for me to sit with him, I did. "I was in the Marines when The Mist hit, I had just finished my basic training and was visiting home when everything started,"

"You're a Marine?"

"More or less," He shrugged. "I wasn't in very long, I never saw any real action, long story short it was just good luck that I had come home, my entire troop came down with Mist so I was advised to stay where I was, then someone in my hometown caught it and it started spreading. My family and some other people in our neighborhood decided we had to get out of there before any of us got it, but then Mom got sick. She was quarantined, not long after her Paul got it too, Paul is—was—my stepdad. They passed on a month later." He sighed. "Me, my brother, my girlfriend, and my best friend decided we couldn't stay any longer. We set off, but every city we went to it seemed to just catch up to us,"

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Had," He corrected. "She was the first of us to die, I it ate me up inside but we had to keep moving. When I finally did get to mourn her Tyson caught it and for a while I was broken. Grover fixed me, he was my best friend and after a long time on the go he and I…well, like I said you get lonely. He passed away four months ago," Percy's eyes were distant, "I've been travelling by myself ever since, till finally I showed up in this empty place, I had planned on leaving last night, I have to get to Camp Halfblood, not for me but for Grover." He gave me a hard stare. "So, will you come with me?"

For a moment I didn't know what to say, I was blindsided by how blue his eyes were, then my mouth was working for me before my mind could. "I-I mean since you're not some crazy person I guess I will," I said and he smiled a small grin.

"Great. Now, it's your turn,"

I blinked, "My turn?"

"Yeah, tell me about how it all happened for you," I stared at him blankly. "Come on, man," He laughed and punched my arm lightly. "I just poured my heart out to you, share a little," I sighed and gave him an abridged version of what had happened to me, leaving out my awkwardness, leaving out my family problems, just a very cut and dry tale of A and B. It probably sounded like I was skimping on detail but if Percy cared he didn't say anything. He didn't speak again until after I was done. "So I was really your first kiss, huh?"

"Shut up, Percy," I growled at him, I really didn't like his smile anymore. He ruffled my hair and I slapped his hand away, but he just laughed.

"Come on, let's go get you that shower," Then he paused and stood in front of me, extending his hand. "Friends?"

"Just friends," I said. "None of that "friends with benefits" stuff, I don't want to catch you crawling in my bed again, understand?"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Percy grabbed me by the hand. "Either way let's get going," Suddenly he was laughing and running with me in tow, even as I tripped up he didn't stop and I had no choice but to follow behind. Mrs. O'Leary limped behind us, her tail wagging back and forth; she couldn't have been in too much pain. Dumb dog, making me worry; stupid Percy, fixing everything and being a legitimately okay guy.

The real question in my mind was: how does one be a friend? If it wasn't very evident I didn't like or trust people, and I might have dislike and not trusted Percy less than normal, but "people" was a very subjective type of word for me right now. In my world there were two people, there was Percy and there was me. Funny enough, if one of us was a girl than thoughts of repopulation might have been running through my head, something about hormones or something, I don't know; and by some of us I meant if I were a girl I would have probably been all over Percy, because if it were the other way around I don't think I would have been up to the task, and he seemed more than willing to jump in bed with the first person that came along.

"Let's get something fast," He said as we stood in the parking lot, looking over all the vehicles still there. "You think there are, like, any Ferraris out here?"

"In a Wal-Mart parking lot?" I asked. "I think we'd be lucky enough to find anything but a minivan out here."

"Ew." Percy said and I could almost believe he was generally disgusted by the thought of driving around in a minivan.

For what felt like the first time I smiled, "What? They're environmentally friendly, good on gas, we can pick the kids up from soccer practice too, dear." He looked at me like I'd gone insane. "What? Okay, it was a bad joke; I told you I'm no good with these sorts of things,"

"No it's not that," He said. "I was just starting to think you didn't know what a joke was,"

"Oh, ha ha, very funny," He put an arm over my shoulders and I shrugged it off, but that didn't seem to be hint enough because he did it again. "I'm really not a touchy-feely kind of guy," I finally said.

"That's too bad, Neeks, you're stuck with me and I am," He smirked. "Am I really so bad?"

"You seriously don't want me to answer that," I said and finally after a bit of walking we stood in front of a green Hyundai hatchback. "Anything objectable about this?"

"I'm not really a fan of the color," Percy said and that damned arm found its way over my shoulder again. I glared at him but he just smiled back.

"Seriously? The color? There aren't any people left and you're worried about the color? Who's going to see us?"

"It's not about who's going to see us, I know I'm not going to be driving around in a lime green hatchback any time soon, it looks like a leprechaun pissed all over it," I chuckled a bit under my breath and then shrugged, though it was considerably more difficult with most of his weight leaning on me, he smelled nice.

"Whatever, you pick one then," I saw his eyes turn to a two door Miata. "Something that can hold you, me, and two animals, preferably." I don't know why I was arguing that, not an hour ago I was thinking about running away from him, this morning he was some stranger that—I don't know—wanted to rape me or something, except he very explicitly said he would stop if I wanted to stop, and I had let him pull my clothes off…but those were two points that were very much beside the point.

I just don't know, I didn't know anything anymore, life wasn't nearly as confusing as it had been before, but that didn't mean that expertly I just knew things overnight, or over a year or whatever.

Before I could go down a road of existentialism Percy's voice brought me back to the here and now, "How about a truck?"

"I don't care," I replied. "Wait, you don't mean, like, an eighteen wheeler do you?" Percy laughed.

"No, not an eighteen wheeler, look over there that Dodge, see, it's a nice blue, _and_ it's got a hemi."

"What does that even mean?" I asked but he was already walking away to inspect the truck, I sighed heavily and followed behind him, what else could I do? Mrs. O'Leary was at his heels and I don't know how much I liked that, she was _my_ dog. I whistled and her ears perked up, then she turned and limped over to me. "You don't even know him," I said to her and she barked. "I don't care if he smells good, you stay with me from now on out, got that? He might still be bad news,"

"Woof," Was her response to that and I rolled my eyes.

Before I could open my mouth Percy cleared his throat, during our banter Mrs. O'Leary and I had somehow made it over to him. "You really do talk to her, she even answers,"

"She's a smart dog," I shrugged. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Well, I smell good, at least I know I'm not offensive to the senses, which means it must be something mental," He grinned and I blushed. "Good news though, this thing is unlocked and the keys are inside,"

"Some god must be smiling down on you, then, Percival," I said.

"Perseus, actually," He corrected.

"Perseus? You mean like the son of Zeus from Greek mythology?" Percy nodded.

"Yup, except my dad's name was Poseidon," I stared at him and then shook my head, a small smile on my lips.

"You're messing with me,"

"Nope," He grinned. "My family was weird,"

"And you called me crazy for talking to my dog, Perseus O son of Poseidon," I chuckled. "How're you at sailing?"

"Pretty good actually, if we ever find ourselves at sea I could probably navigate us back to land, but that's more to do with my basic training than it does any help from my dad, he wasn't really around much you know? After he and mom split they got joint custody but I was always at home more than I was at his house, he just didn't have the time,"

"Oh," I paused. "I'm, uh, sorry to hear that," I said, I didn't know what else to say. My dad and I hadn't been very close so it wasn't like I could relate. Percy smiled.

"Don't worry about it; you never did this often did you?"

"Taking cars? No, I refrained from that as much as possible actually,"

"No, talking. You're a really withdrawn kind of guy,"

"Am I?" I asked with a small wondering smirk. "What else kind of guy am I, Mr. Jackson?"

"Well," He said. "I think that you are—or you were—probably a nice guy, just never really into the whole "hanging" concept, I'm trying to figure out if that's by choice or what. I think you were really smart but you probably didn't try very hard because you didn't have a whole lot motivating you, I think before all of this you were—" My happy mood soured in the span of sixty-one words.

"Stop talking," I said in a quiet voice. "What? Do I just have some sort of aura around me that says loser or something?" It was scary how accurate he was, how did he know so much about me? There was no possible way he could just know things that intimately, we hadn't spoken _that_ much.

"I've always just had the gift of reading people, I was going to study psychology after I enlisted," He said nonchalantly. "You don't like it though, that I could see you so easily, you've spent a lot of time trying to hide things away, like the fact that you're into guys."

"That's enough,"

"Why? Why is that enough? Should there really be any secrets between us? We're going to be together for a while, we could drive all the way to New York in a couple of days, but have you ever just stopped and looked around? Have you ever thought about what was out there?"

"Percy you're talking just way too much," I said with a hand on my head, my temples were throbbing, a headache cause probably by too many new things happening at once in my life.

"That right there, you're wound way too tightly Nico, relax a little, live a little," Suddenly he had me pressed against the side of the truck. "You want your first time to be special right? What's more special than with someone who knows everything about you? Someone who can understand you?" My head felt hazy, his lips were dangerously close to mine now and I felt myself swoon. "Let me understand you, Nico."

"Percy…" I bit my tongue, it was just enough to give me a ray of remembrance, for the second time in one day I pushed him away. "I want my first time to be special with someone who wants more than just sex, with someone who cares for me." I glared, punching him square in the chest but there was just a hollow thud where I expected something a bit more solid, a bit more painful. "What part of "I don't know you" don't you understand? I might tell you everything about myself, and you might tell me everything about you but that doesn't change the fact that I've spent all of thirty hours with you," Then I felt my anger flare. "And stop smiling damn it!" I yelled, prepared to punch him again even if my hand was hurting, he grabbed my wrists and held them tightly.

"You're right," He said with a chuckle. "You're right, I'm thinking with the wrong head, it's a problem I have, but you know what you didn't say?"

"God, what haven't I said so I can say it so you can get it?" I asked in a huff.

"You said that you've known me for thirty hours, which means with a little bit more time—"

"'Just friends' you remember me saying that, surely? We shook on it like thirty minutes ago!" I was gesturing widly with my hands.

"Okay, then let's shake on something else," I scoffed. "Hear me out at least," He said with a laugh, holding his hands forward in surrender. "If I can feel something for you and get you to fall for me all before we get to Camp Halfblood then you'll give me a chance."

"A chance?" I asked.

"To get you in bed," He grinned wickedly.

"I can't believe how arrogant you are!" I shouted. "One hundred thousand miles in every direction and I just happen to end up with the one horndog in existence who could probably get me out of my pants if he tried hard enough—" My eyes nearly bugged out of my head and he smiled even wider. "No! Scratch that, never! Just back off, okay? You couldn't get me to fall for you anyway, from now on everything you do will just be you trying to get me naked—"

"Again," Percy chuckled. "And this morning was without me even trying." I was blushing fiercely now, both flustered and embarrassed.

"Sick him, girl!" I shouted at Mrs. O'Leary but she just looked at me with those big black eyes of hers and barked, her tail wagging back and forth. "Ugh, what kind of friend are you?" I asked her, and I would have stormed off if I had anywhere to go, instead I just crossed my arms. Percy kissed the side of my cheek and I hit him; then I cursed. "Damn it! Are you made of fucking stone?" I asked shaking my hand, it throbbed, and again Percy laughed.

"This is going to be fun," Was his only response; forget it, I could always storm back into the store. In fact, I did just that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, when he meets an unexpected travelling companion he remembers what it's like to be around people, and it scares him in a way he has never known. AU Nico/Percy

 **Chapter Three:** Wanderlust

It was an experience, I'll say that much. After Percy had coaxed me out of the store we loaded up the truck and for a moment I just stood around thinking about everything. It was hard being so introspective, everything was happening so fast. Almost two days ago I didn't know anyone was still around and I was trying really hard not to freak out around Percy. Committing social faux pas had always been a fear of mine, but being so out of touch with people I felt like the epitome of the statement. Surely I was going to do something today that made me sputter or look dumb.

It was, after all, still rather early. I hadn't realized how early it was until I looked up into the sky and saw that the sun hadn't fully risen yet. It was making a slow ascent into the sky, still painting the horizon a warm yellow-orange color. The truck purred to life suddenly and I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Look at that," Percy said from the driver's seat. "A full tank of gas!" He looked over at me with his honest white-toothed smile and my heart continued to pound, a part of me felt like it wasn't all from the sudden fear of the growling vehicle and I felt my face heat up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said shaking my head, Mrs. O'Leary had jumped into the backseat of the truck and Tyson was sitting on the passenger's side, stretching lazily and swishing his long tail languidly. We had grabbed as many supplies as was possible inside, not just cart full of stuff Percy had gotten, but clothes and soaps and toothpastes and brushes, all sorts of things for hygiene. It would be nice to have a bit of normalcy in my life again. I felt subconscious, I hadn't brushed my teeth in months, they must have looked like little candy corns or something, and my breath probably didn't smell that great either.

"Are you getting in?" Percy asked and I sighed, pushing myself into the tall, tall truck cab. I sat and Percy rested a hand on my thigh, a very warm hand. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun, Neeks,"

"My name is Nico, _Perce_ ," I said near venomously, I think I had lost my bite because he definitely wasn't taking me seriously. Where had that gone? I was small but people used to look the other way when I walked down the hallway, it hadn't feel _good_ but it had been better than anyone shaking me down, or just ignoring me in general. Maybe if I had thought to grab my Dad's leather aviator's jacket, the one I used to borrow all the time, I might have been the slightest bit more intimidating.

"You're warming up to me," Percy squeezed my thigh and I growled, pushing his hand away. He laughed his infectious laugh. "I'm kidding Nico," He said. "I know it makes you uncomfortable," I didn't say anything, instead I just looked away. He obviously didn't see what the effects of his flirting did to me, no one flirted with me before and now I was the last guy on the planet so I was his only option. Wasn't that messed up? I hated being the last resort. I felt Percy grab my chin and he pulled my attention towards him. "Hey," He said and for a second we locked eyes, my heart was pumping again. "Smile, okay? Life's too short to be frowning all the time." How did I respond to that? What could I say? I just nodded and he grinned. "You really are cute, you know?" He asked and I tried to look away, I did, but his eyes were really very nice. Then, before I knew what was going on, he pushed me back with a laugh and put the truck in gear. "Look through that bag on the floor; it's got some nice tunes in it," I opened it, it was just a plastic bag of CDs. I pulled out the first one I could, not recognizing many of the bands Percy had chosen for our spontaneous road trip.

"Halestorm?" I asked.

"Ooh, good choice, pop it in," He said. I did and was immediately met by slow strummed guitars and a sultry female voice. She reminded me of a more rock-n-roll Amy Lee. I didn't really listen to the music, it was good background noise, instead I just watched the town around us as Percy went searching for neighborhoods. Idaho was a lot prettier than I thought it would be, Middle America had never been a must-see on my list of things to do with life, but here I was and I didn't completely hate it. It was better than being dead. I kept sneaking glances over at the driver, he was singing to himself and he had a long, slim tabby cat in his lap, whom he continued to pet with one hand while he drove with the other.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked finally after what felt like hours, though in reality we had probably been riding for about ten minutes. Silence has a way of making things feel exacerbated.

"Yeah," He said. "There's a few houses on this next street up here that still have working water and lights, I wouldn't drink the water but I don't guess it's too bad to bathe in, I've been taking a bath every few days over here." That's why he smelled so good. "Brushing my teeth in bottled water, you know? Just doing what I can to get by, but you know all about that, I'm sure," He smiled.

"The doing what I can to get by part, yeah," I agreed. He pulled onto a street with the sign indicating its name tagged over. "Any idea where we actually are in relation to New York?"

"Idaho?" Percy returned with a shrug. "I never really cared to find out."

"Oh goodie," I said. "I do so enjoy being lost,"

"Men don't get lost, Neeks," He said to me, nudging me with his elbow of the arm he was petting Tyson with. I looked over at him with what I figured was dispassion and his eyes flitted over to mine, smiling.

"Then what do you call what we are?" I asked.

"Adventurers!" He returned and I rolled my eyes. "But seriously we'll find a map somewhere soon or an atlas." As if that made up for all my fears of being lost he pulled into a the driveway of a two story home. It looked like one of those American dream houses, shingled roof, big front porch, the only thing it was missing was white picket fence. "This is the place," He said. He put the truck in park and cut the engine and we popped the doors open, I let Mrs. O'Leary out but Tyson seemed loathe to exploring any new territory so Percy just left him on the seat where he reclined in the sunlight, yawned once, and curled into a lazy ball of fur. "Reminds me of the real Tyson," Percy said with a far off grin. "There was no waking that guy, we're lucky the cat doesn't snore like him."

There he went again with those emotions I couldn't get in tune with, growing up it had felt a lot of the time like Bianca had watched over and looked out for me, I had always hidden behind her and my mother's skirts till I learned how to act tough for myself, but I didn't have those idealistic views of them like Percy seemed to of his family. I bet they had all been tight-knit and together, never fighting, just laughing all the time. Percy just made it look easy, missing everyone. I tried, and I missed them, but I couldn't do it with the grace he showed. The reverence for the dead he seemed to have, and that, I thought, was ironic, considering my family's profession.

"Let's get you washed up, smelly," He called and I glared over at him with all my might, tried not to let it surprise me too much when he mock punched my arm and put a shoulder around my neck, his hands tickling my stomach. "I'm still kidding, you don't smell that bad. Just a little musky."

"Gee, thanks," I said pushing past him, I went up to the door and I found it quite unlocked. "Did they just not lock anything in this town?" I asked.

"You're from California, right?" He asked me and I nodded. "Well, the further into the States you get you'll find people are a lot more trusting of their neighbors,"

"Where're you from, again?" I asked.

"Texas," He said, and for the first time I did notice the slightest bit of Southern twange accenting his words. "Dallas, actually, but we moved to Austin when I was ten—I—they had better medical care for my brother there. He was mentally handicapped and blind in one eye."

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying before I realized it came out of my mouth. Maybe I really was sorry, I wouldn't have wished that on anyone.

"It's cool, Tyson was the coolest big brother ever. He was always happy to see me, and he always had these little projects he was working on. I don't think he was really handicapped, I think, in comparison, we were the ones who were disabled, you know? We got so bogged down by school, and work, and bills and life that we just sort of lost sight of it all, but not Ty, he was always smiling, always laughing." I was leaning against the doorframe now staring openly at Percy; his smile wasn't the only honest thing about him. His entire fucking face was like a book, and I could read every line in this big bold print. "I try my hardest to be the kind of person he was, you know? A good guy who can be a bit mischievous from time to time, he knew how to get into trouble," A small chuckle came out of his pink lips and I looked away. I couldn't be the kind of person Percy was, the kind who was seemed so good in every situation. I was unsure and shaky and _human_ , the only bad quality about this kid seemed to be his lecherous nature, and I was starting to figure that even most of that was in jest—early this morning excluded.

"He sounds like a good guy," I said my attention on the intricate design of the door.

"He was," Percy smiled and he looked at me fully. "Come on, I'm boring you, let's go in." I opened the door almost wearily afraid that when we stepped inside there would be a family staring at us strangely. A man on the couch with the television remote in his hands and maybe a woman standing against the wall with telephone against her ear, kids running up and down the hall playing God knows what childhood fantasy out but instead we were met by an empty home. It didn't smell like anyone had been in here in a long while, the air was stale, unmoved. "Shower's upstairs, I'm going to take a look at Mrs. O'Leary's leg." Percy said and I just nodded and made my way in that direction, locking the bathroom door behind me.

The water felt strange against my skin, I scrubbed with a bodywash I had found—one that I thought smelled really good and might alleviate some of the supposed stink I had acquired. My mind was a million different places. I wondered if I should have missed my family more, if I should have had good memories of everyone like Percy did of his friends and relatives.

 _Percy_.

I bit my lip, I didn't know what to think of Perseus Jackson. I continued to wash while I tried to make up my mind on him, he was as strange to me as this shower I was taking. Foreign and not offensive, but just entirely different. Something that perhaps I could have gotten used to, if I wanted to. But did I want to? God, I still only knew what he told me. I didn't know anything about who he was as a person, he might have seemed all sweet and hero-like, and yeah he had a smile that made my lower body twitch in response, but damn it I don't know. It wasn't supposed to happen that fast, and I had put up so much of a show already.

Couldn't he see I didn't understand people, let alone myself? I didn't know how to make things work, I didn't know how things were supposed to be, I _got along_ and that was the only thing I was good at. Now he was saying all these really sweet things, and he was opening his heart to me.

" _He's only trying to sleep with you_ ," A voice in the back of my head said, and I nodded in agreement. But I noticed my hands had found themselves around my privates and I was semi-erect. Had I been subconsciously about to masturbate to the thought of Percy Jackson? Oh, God. I let myself go wetly and just leaned against the wall of the shower, letting the water run down my back and watching the soap suds go down the drain in bubbles.

What was he doing to me? I would have been so easy to just have pulled it and gotten my kicks, I'll admit that. I had seen him naked, and he had a really nice body from what I could tell, even if in the lantern light I hadn't been able to make everything out. There was a knock at the door and I jumped, realizing again that my hand was wrapped around my now fully hard penis. I go. "Don't use up all the hot water, I don't know how good these old water heaters are!" His voice called into the bathroom.

"Yeah, okay!" I returned, flustered. What was I doing? I had masturbated like maybe fifteen times in my teenaged lifetime, and for a guy that was a very small number. Hell, for anyone that was a very small number. People could pretend to be as prudish as they wanted to be, but I knew that behind closed doors there was a different side to everyone. Apparently mine was one who imagined myself pressed up against the cool bath titles, the contrasts of the coldness and my sweaty forehead making me swoon all the more as Percy—

I stopped that train of though and shut the water off. This wasn't me. I wasn't that guy who couldn't _not_ think about sex, in fact, I didn't think about sex. People didn't want to have sex with me so I didn't want to have sex with people.

" _But there_ ' _s only one person left,_ " Okay, the voice in my head might have been bi-polar, or had multiple personalities or something because now it was working against me; I would have told myself to shut up but I was already crazy enough talking to my dog. I pulled out one of the bundled towels in my bag and dried myself off, trying not to tarry too long around the crotch area, then I pulled a pair of briefs up over my legs, shimmied on some pants and pulled a shirt over my incredibly wet hair. I sat on the lid of the toilet and put my socks on, then a new pair of shoes and aside from the increasingly uncomfortable erection I felt a lot better.

I wanted substance, not seduction. I had to tell myself that, and I opened the door. "About time," The smiling face handed me a bottle of water. "You can either brush your teeth in here or downstairs in the kitchen sink, but I'm about to get naked." Scratch that, now my erection was painful. I pushed past him again without a word and headed down the steps where I found Mrs. O'Leary stretched out on a rather large couch. She was laying upside down and appeared to be sleeping. I rolled my eyes, how anyone, dog or otherwise, could sleep so much was beyond me.

But she _was_ my best friend so I left her alone and let her sleep, I needed to get my mind off of Percy anyway. Quickly I pulled a few toiletries out of my bag, which was really a large duffle full of clothing and other things, and I grabbed my toothbrush and some toothpaste. I brushed with abandon, scrubbing away months of grime and morning breath, and soon brushing was the only thing I could think about. Just the monotonous _scrub scrub scrub_ was more than entertaining enough for me. I was probably brushing too hard but I didn't care, I wanted my teeth white again like…Percy's. I opened the bottle of water and gurgled it around in my mouth then I spit it in the kitchen sink, amused to see some pink wash out.

I had been brushing too hard, just like I thought. I gargled more water and then expectorated it, dabbing at my face after words with my shower towel. Then I put my toothbrush away, mouth feeling fresh for the first time in a while, and I decided to explore around the house. It wasn't much, there were two bedrooms downstairs, one looked like the master bedroom and the other looked like a guest room, there was a smaller bathroom down there as well with just a toilet and a sink in it. Then there was the living room, and the dining room, a back porch that opened to a medium sized and fenced in yard. It had a huge oak tree growing in the middle of it and the fence itself was covered in moss and weeds, in serious need of tending like the entire yard. The grass had grown nearly as tall as me.

I closed the backdoor and walked back into the main part of the house, I went upstairs. More guest rooms, then something caught my eyes. I wasn't trying to watch Percy shower; that much I knew, but I just couldn't look away.

Still, that was no reason for me to be standing at the door just _gawking_ at him like I was. How was I supposed to help it though? He was messing with my head, I'm sure he would have watched me shower if I had not locked the door and pulled the curtains closed, two things he failed to do.

In fact, he had left the door wide open.

But God above he was gorgeous with his strong back turned to me, he had muscles where I didn't know muscle could be defined as he flexed and relaxed letting the water hit him in the face. Percy's leg were longer than I thought they would be, true he was tall but I was in awe of him physically. Powerful calves and I swear there was a ripple in his thighs, and his buttocks when he moved. I couldn't pull my eyes away from that part of him as he stepped around and it _jiggled_ , which sounded funny but I had never seen anything like it before. Things are always more real when you actually see them and I really wanted to walk in and grab a handful of him. I had never been an ass man, hell, I had never had a particular body part I liked the most but between you and me I'll admit I liked his quite a bit.

The one thing I couldn't get over was his damned overconfidence; Percy could have been a guy I _really_ liked. Who couldn't fall for someone who had saved their life and was as nice as he was? But then he opened his mouth and said something that made me blush to my core, or pushed me against a wall and kissed me; sure he left me breathless when he did it but that didn't mean I _wanted_ him to kiss me.

Okay, so maybe I wanted him to kiss me, but I wanted him to have permission to kiss me, that was the defining line. The more he did it without asking me the more I wanted to push him away. But I had no room to talk at the moment, he had no idea I was just standing there watching him with lustful eyes.

Then I felt my heart stop as he turned around. _I had been caught_ , that was the first thought in my head. I had been caught and now he was going to lord this over me all because I was curious…about what the entire house looked like. But I nearly sighed a sigh of relief to see his eyes were still closed as he rinsed through his hair, soap and water running down his face. He was humming a familiar song, something that was rock but I couldn't place it. He wasn't the best singer but he wasn't horrible either, it was nice to hear.

My eyes cut down his chest, hard pectorals and brown nickel sized nipples were exposed all for me to see, I kept trailing downward and found myself amused at his abdominal muscles. He didn't have a six pack but he was defined and cut all the same. His hipbones made an erotic sort of 'v' and I found myself biting my lip again, I wanted to run my hand up and down his hairy stomach. He had hair everywhere. _Everywhere_. It was thick and coarse and covered all of his lower body and most of his upper body. If I stood next to him in the buff I would feel underdressed I'm sure.

I heard a chuckle, which made me jump, and I looked up to see crystalline blue eyes were smirking at me.

 _Now_ I was caught.

Percy was smiling widely; he held a finger up and gave me the universal come-hither motion. I felt embarrassed, and then I felt angry at being embarrassed. I was being a peeping-tom; it was probably sweet justice that I had been caught. I huffed and grabbed the doorknob. "It's common courtesy to close this!" I shouted and slammed it.

God, I was red I knew. The water shut off and I ran through the house we had broken into. I don't know why I felt suddenly frightened, it was probably because it was human to feel startled when you were found out doing something you you're not supposed to be doing. Mrs. O'Leary poked my hand with her cold nose as I tried to duck into an open room, then a pair of warm, wet arms wrapped around me and I felt my legs go out from underneath me. "Let me go!" I screamed but Percy was laughing in my ear and I felt his shower water seeping into my once dry clothing.

"Why are you upset?" He chuckled and turned me around in his arms. "Because I saw you staring?"

"Shut up," I didn't want to like how really warm he was, or to think that he had a really nice laugh, though it wouldn't have been the first time I had thought that in the span of two days. "I was looking for my dog." I lied horribly. It was the first thing that came to mind.

"She's right there," He said motioning with his head to Mrs. O'Leary, his wet hair clung to his face but moved around with every toss of the head, throwing water droplets into the air. I tried to push away from him but he held me firmly by the waist. "You're a horny little devil,"

"Shut up!" I yelled again, I had to be redder than a beet.

"You're blushing," I punched him, and then I remembered punching him hurt so instead I crossed my arms and looked away. "Let me ask you something, do you find me attractive? I know you think I smell good."

"Just let me go," I sighed, defeated, and he grinned at me, then he kissed the side of my cheek and patted me on the head and I felt even more embarrassed.

"We're getting there," He turned around and my eyes nearly bugged as I watched him walk away.

"You're still naked?"

"I ran out of the shower to get you, of course I'm still naked." He turned again and I found that keeping my eyes above his waist was very difficult. "What? You don't like being nude? I love taking clothes off, namely other people's though."

"Go put some _on_ ," I told him and he laughed then he walked away again without another word.

I sat down on the bed in the room I had ducked into and held my head in my hands. What was I doing? I ran my hands through my hair; it was still pretty damp since I hadn't been out of the shower very long. I fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh and closed my eyes. Percy was messing with my head, I don't know how many times I could say that but it was so true.

Never before would I have done that, perverted as it was, the only person around and he wanted to get into my pants. My emotions felt ragged now, I was confused and horny and scared. Of what I don't know, but I was, okay? In my exasperation I threw my hands above my head and something fell on my chest, I picked it up. It was a teddy bear, just a cute brown bear with black button eyes and a red and gold checkered bowtie. I sat up and for the first time I noticed that the room I was in was a bubblegum pink color and that there were dolls everywhere.

I was in a little girl's room. There was something about that was nearly profound.

I stood slowly and went to the light up vanity, the mirror was thick with dust and so were the pictures lining the desktop but I picked one up. It was of a small girl with what I guessed were her mother and father, they looked like a loving family.

A happy family.

They were all smiling from ear to ear, the father looking down on what I assumed were his two favorite girls in the world and the girl—she wasn't any older than five—was missing one of her front teeth but it didn't seem to make her grin any smaller. But the mother made the picture come together; she was squeezed between the two of them smiling serenely, at peace. I felt a strangeness well up inside of me as I stared down at the picture for a full five minutes. Just staring at it, the photo was the most beautiful thing I had seen in a very long time. It made my already jarred sense of anything even more shaken. Something wet hit the picture and I wiped it away, but only for it to be replaced by several more somethings.

I was…crying? When I realized it it hit me like a rush of sorrow, all the feelings I had refused to have. All my survival instincts were put aside because for a moment I was in someone's home, and at home there was no need to strive for survival. Suddenly I was mourning again, not just the loss of the beautiful little girl in the picture, or her loving family, I was mourning the loss of eight billion people, most of whom I didn't even know. Eight billion beautiful, intellectual, incomparable people, the entire world; as jaded as I wanted to be I couldn't _not_ miss the world. As selfish, egotistical, polluting, and murderous as the population had been there was also the loving, the compassionate and kind side of the universe that I might not have experienced much but still it was there.

Then, I missed my family like Percy missed his. It was then it occurred to me that I was completely and utterly alone, and that was a scary thought. A thought I had been running from, passing through more towns of very few to no people, staying long enough to see them die and then continuing on; the Mist had claimed so many so fast and I had just barely stayed ahead of it and that left me shaking.

I crumbled back on the bed as I realized my own humanity.

My own fragility.

A virus was microscopic, something so tiny it couldn't be seen without a very powerful lens, and yet it had destroyed everyone. Humans we're as easy to break as the dolls staring at me lifelessly around the entire room. I didn't want to be in there anymore, or in that house. I was disturbing someone's things without their permission, touching a dead girl's toys. I began to sob and felt the hotness of my tears as they ran down my face, tasted their salt on my lips and drowned the dust-ridden picture in drops of sadness. There was a footfall at the door.

"You about ready to go? I think we should drive around and see the sights so you'll stop being such a stick in the mud and loosen—" Percy stopped midsentence as he came into the door. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" How do you answer that question? Why was I crying? For humanity, for the loss of mankind, because I had never learned how to properly grieve? "Was seeing me naked that bad?" I didn't have to answer that, however, because he sat down beside me and pulled me into his arms.

I didn't fight it I just clung to him and cried harder. He was so warm, I missed the warmth of hugs even if I hadn't been very inclined to getting them a year and a half ago. I missed everything. For a moment the world around me became a fuzzy haze of colors and Percy was the only thing anchoring me down, I squeezed against him harder and poured out my heart into his chest.

Finally I settled down after a few more minutes of heavy sobs and shaking and Percy rubbed circles into my back, shushing me gently. It was nice to be comforted, not something I would admit to him, but it felt good. I couldn't remember ever having it done to me before, if it ever happened it was probably way back before I had the ability to recall things. "Thank you," I said, my voice broke and I wiped my nose against my forearm.

"Why are you crying, man?" He asked and I realized I was sitting in his lap with my arms around his neck and his arms around my waist. I unlocked my grip around him and settled down next to him on the bed.

I waited a couple of seconds before I opened my mouth. There was just one thing on my mind now, one thing I just had to ask him to find out the real answer behind it, "What's so important about sex?" I asked, answering his question with a question. I left that sadness; I couldn't tell him what I had really been crying about just yet, he would think it was stupid.

"I—" He paused, probably caught off guard, but I don't think Percy was the type to be speechless for long. "It's a nice way to connect with people," He smiled.

"Yeah, but it's not the only way," I replied and he shrugged. "Before all this did you think that having sex with every girl you met made you close to her?" He put an arm around my shoulders, which I shrugged off.

"That didn't last long," He grinned putting it up there again, this time I left it. "I told you I've only had sex with two people, and one of them was most definitely not a girl." I leaned against him and put my head against his chest for a minute just thinking, then he laid his head on top of mine and we sat like that in silence for a few minutes. He was the first to break it, "So you're allowed to push up on me, but I can't do it to you?"

"Are you complaining?" I asked and he chuckled in my ear.

"No," He said. "This is nice."

"Back to you and your _needs_ ," I said, my mind racing, I was tired from my little semi-breakdown, I needed something else to think about. I almost chuckled to myself, there were no safe thoughts for me today. "Analyze it from a psychological point of view for me, Mr. Psychiatrist, so I can understand you better. That's what today's about, right?" He shrugged.

"I've actually been thinking about it," He said looking down at me and grinning. "The minute I saw you, and saw that you were roughly my age, cute, and alone I got…bothered." I looked up at him and his grin turned malicious. "I know, I'm horrible." He said. "But I think I've figured it out, see when Annabeth, and then after her, Grover were around I always found comfort in their arms, no matter what was going on. Flunking a class, wrecking a car, the world ending, it didn't matter because they were both there for me. Not just emotionally, but sexually, you know? When we were together it was like nothing could ever be wrong." He paused and squeezed me close. "So there you were, and here I was alone again and I figured if I saved you you'd be grateful enough not to mind me sneaking into your tent." He laughed. "I put up the pretense of privacy because what if you turned me down? It would be awkward if we were sharing a tent and I came onto you right?"

I nodded, knowing what he meant even if I didn't approve of his methods.

"I can understand that you're holding onto your virginity, it's yours to give to whomever you want to, but that doesn't change one thing."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You were still watching me shower this morning," He grinned again; I wrapped my knuckles against the back of his head and stood up. What was I thinking? That he would provide me comfort and then not bring _that_ up? Admittedly it hadn't happened too long ago, but still. "Ow." He said with a laugh. "You were! You can't be mad at me for you watching me shower, that's not how this works." Then he stood up and pulled me close; I crossed my arms. "You've got needs, too, I think, Nico." His lips kissed my neck and I felt my eyes flutter closed, and then I remembered myself. "Like you need to tell me why you were just crying."

"It's stupid," I said, but I looked at the picture still in my hands albeit a little more crinkled now.

"Who are they?" Percy asked softly, glancing at the picture.

"The people that lived in this house," I said. "It was on the dresser. I just—I miss them."

"Did you know them?" He asked and I shook my head 'no.'

"I told you it was dumb, I miss them, I miss people. Before you came along I was okay just walking around with Mrs. O'Leary going from place to place, there are still small communities out there that have two, sometimes three other people in them, but I can't stay with those guys. Everyone I've come across so far is weak from starvation or sick and dying because just about everything has gone bad, not every city has a nicely stocked Wal-Mart with preserved frozen foods." Percy held me closer and I knew I should have pulled away but I let him. "I just get sick of everyone dying, you know?"

"I know," He said, his face in my hair, and I could feel him inhaling my scent.

"Is this normal" I asked, leaning into him.

"Two grown men standing in a little girl's room?" He returned.

"No," I said. "Two people who don't know each other acting like this," He wasn't forgiven, he was still an arrogant horndog; I hadn't forgotten that, but sometimes I wanted to be selfish and it had always been a nice thought to just be pressed against someone. "Like you just came in here and held me while I cried for no reason—" I paused. "Well, other than wanting me to strip and jump your bones."

"That wasn't why I did it," Percy replied. "Before I was…comforted by sex I was actually a pretty decent guy I would like to think, I liked helping people. Another reason I wanted to be a psychologist. I saw someone who needed my help and I gave it to you,"

"Thank you," I said and he kissed the top of my head, which was when I pulled away. That was too affectionate.

"No problem," He smiled. "Now, are you ready to hit the road?"

"Yeah," I said putting the picture back down on the vanity. "We should go,"

"After you my lady," I turned a hard eye on him and he laughed.

"I will still feed you to my very vicious dog." I informed him.

"You mean the Chihuahua who was sleeping on the couch downstairs before I took my shower?" He asked. "Yeah, she's not the best guard dog, Nico." I smiled.

"She is a _great_ guard dog, you just sent her for a loop like you did me."

"You know you're inadvertently pumping my ego, I smell good, I throw you for loops, you're watching me bathe, maybe you are a murderous, raving lunatic." I balled my fist up and he grabbed my hands. "I'm just playing, jeez, I thought we found your sense of humor earlier, looks like you lost it again." Rolling my eyes I walked out of the room and found myself going down the stairs. I whistled and the lazy thing that was laying on the couch again stuck her head up.

"Let's go you good-for-nothing mutt," She stood and her tongue popped out of her mouth. "What am I going to do with you? We eat boys like Percy, not lick them." I told her, feeling the least bit better.

"You can lick me, too, if you want."

"Don't hold your breath," I said over my shoulder, this worked, I think. Him, me, and our animals. We could do this, we could make it wherever we needed to go. "Let's go," First Percy walked by me, then Mrs. O'Leary then I locked the door behind us. It only felt right, sort of like it gave that little girl and her family some sort of sanctity.

I still don't know what it was that came over me, where that sadness came from. Maybe just a culmination of thoughts being actualized in the form of tears, or maybe I'm just human and can't handle sorrow without crying.

I got into our truck, Tyson greeted me by licking the back of my ear with his sandpaper tongue and I scratched his head as I closed the car door behind me. We were loaded up for a long trip, the tank filled with gasoline, the bed of the truck had coolers in it with a lot of our frozen food and most of our nonperishable items sat up front with us and the animals. Of course, after not being run for so long you would have expected our vehicle not to run well but Percy had done something to it when I had stormed back into the store and now it was as if it were brand new.

Frankly I didn't care how he did it, but he had.

Turns out we were at the bottom of Idaho in a city-town called Preston, it was bigger than I had thought but still a lot smaller than most of the cities I had lived in. This information courtesy of an atlas Percy had found when scrounging around in the house. "Alright," Percy said turning the truck's engine over smoothly. "We've got all of North America to see, where do you want to go first?"

"How about New York? To Camp Halfblood, you know, stay there if it exists." I replied looking out the window as we passed more and more houses, but I smiled, even if it was just a little one.

"We've got the entire world at our disposal and you just want to head straight there?" Percy asked me and I nodded.

"The sooner we get there the sooner there's a chance you'll find a female and you won't be forced to try to sleep with me." I replied; Percy chuckled I looked over at him, puzzled.

"I hate to tell you this, Neeks, but I've got my sights set on you now." He grinned not looking away from the road as he pulled out of the driveway. "You're in my crosshair, metaphorically."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," He said with the biggest goddamned smile I had ever seen, "that you're already wearing down and that I give it less than a week, before you to fall for me."

"It won't take us a week to get to New York," I replied, turning my attention back to the road, I wasn't going to stare at him, if I did I could see him naked, which was an image that made me grow silent and uncomfortable below the waist. "Asshole," I added; I had to get these sudden urges under control soon or Percy might end up being right.

"I told you we weren't going directly to New York." He looked over at me with his damned smile. "I bet you've never been on a road-trip before."

"No, and I don't intend to go on one anytime soon,"

"You're no fun," He said. "Just settle back Nico, if you sit tight I might even let you blow me while I drive." I glared at him and he only laughed at me again. "Alright, if you sit tight _I_ might blow _you_ while I drive." I could never tell if he was being serious or joking, it was so perplexing with the simple ease of his words as if he might have meant it all, or he might not have.

I decided that I didn't care.

"As safe as that sounds I think I'll decline." I told him, sighing. "Take us wherever you want, it's not like I have a choice now I'm already in the damn truck." Truthfully when he had been with me upstairs comforting me I think I established a connection with Percy; a connection I wouldn't tell him about mind you, but one all the same.

He wasn't such a bad guy, how well I knew that now. He was useful and knowledgeable and handsome—though, I'm not sure what that last one had to do with the situation at hand it didn't make it less true. "I'm going to try to get some shuteye," I told him, leaning my seat back. "Wake me up if you want me to start driving."

"Go on to sleep, I'll think of something for us to do," He said.

"Don't fondle me while I'm unconscious," I closed my eyes.

"You're the one invading people's showers," He laughed. I refused to acknowledge that with a response; instead I turned over in the seat facing away from Percy and just let the pull of the car direct which way my knees turned. Slightly left and then slightly right as we moved along the winding roads. I wasn't even tired really; I think the weight of the world was just on my shoulders.

I listened to the strangely comforting sounds around me, Percy's humming and tapping on the steering wheel, Mrs. O'Leary in the back seat yawning and Tyson mewling quietly to himself in the floor; the car's general car sounds, the running of a motor, the sound of the wheels against the pavement, a most likely unnecessary blinker as Percy turned down a street. It was all painfully familiar and yet distant.

I found myself actually yawning now as Percy's humming evolved to soft singing, he had a better voice than I gave him credit for earlier. I wanted to ask him what song it was but then I remembered that I wasn't giving him the time of day. For all I know his musical prowess might have been another way at getting me in bed. God, I felt—I felt cheap. How dare he! Even if he said he associated comfort with sex how dare he! I was not someone who would just give it up to the first tall, dark haired, blue eyed, lopside grinned wearing, big muscled, long legged, square jawed, Southern accented pretty boy who came around.

"How dare you!" I yelled and punched him in the arm, he nearly swerved off the road.

"What! What?" He exclaimed, eyes wide looking over at me. He looked hilarious all surprised and everything, I just smiled at the look on his face and then I laughed. He gave me the strangest glance and shook his head.

"Nothing," I said and laid back down, closing my eyes. "Nothing." I felt a very warm hand on my thigh, but I didn't move it as it rubbed up and down. It was comforting, Percy was comforting. I found myself fast asleep not long after that just travelling up or down the Idaho roads, only time would tell.


	4. Chapter 4

**Coding and Codeine**

 **Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, when he meets an unexpected travelling companion he remembers what it's like to be around people, and it scares him in a way he has never known. AU Nico/Percy

 **Chapter Four:** Ghosts

I woke up in bed feeling warm and groggy, sleep flooded my mind like a rush of water and I closed my eyes again. It was all very comfortable, then a thought crossed my mind. I was home. How did I get home? I sat up slowly, blinking sleep out of my eyes and looking around my darkened room. Everything was in place, my guitar against the wall, posters of my favorite movies, my messy desk opposite my bed with the computer in hibernation mode that green light flickering on and off, on and off. Even the giant ass rug sat on the floor, the one I always tripped over when I woke up to piss in the middle of most nights. My mind felt hazy, for some reason this scared me, being home, the safest place a person, could be scared me. I threw the blankets and sheets back and turned to my window, thin fingers of moonlight were shining through the blinds. Opening it I looked around the busy Californian neighborhood, nothing was out of place. Cars were moving from here to there, some people still walked the street. Crazy Stan, that's what I called him, sat under the streetlight with his sign proclaiming the end of the world was nigh.

My breath hitched, this was wrong. Something was wrong. I turned on the television hooked on a stand on my wall but there was only snow and static. I changed the channel, again only snow and static. After a few more tries I shut the thing off and sat in the would be silence of my room, if not for the busy sounds of the people outside. Was it all just a dream, I wondered. My head hit the pillow and I stared at the ceiling fan, it turned and turned slowly trying desperately to be the unyielding heat—or it would have but it wasn't hot. It felt nice in my room where as most days I would wake up to strip down to my underwear just to sleep properly. Something was _wrong_ , I could feel it in my chest and in my heart, but in my mind things were as they should have been.

I got out of bed, making sure to avoid the disaster rug my mother had put down years ago so that my feet wouldn't be too cold on the linoleum floors, and I opened my door. That was when the first bit of oddness occurred. I looked to the left and the hallway seemed to extend onward forever and it was the same on the right. Our house was moderately small, four bedrooms, two baths, and I never remembered there being an endless corridor in it. I stepped into the hall, determined to understand what was going on, but the moment my feet touched down I was zooming forward, the walls around me becoming blurred with speed lines and there was a nearly unbearable weight on my chest the faster things sped by me.

Then I stopped.

I was in the living room, my father sat in his big black recliner chair with a book in his hands—only I couldn't make out his face for the shadow on it. I tried to define the features of him, but the blackness only darkened and he was left faceless and blank. My sister as well, she was behind the couch braiding some woman's hair, if I could see her expression I might think she was happy from the way her shoulders shook with what I guessed to be laughter. Then my head spun as recognition hit me, the woman whom my sister was plaiting was none other than my mother. The living room's TV crackled in my ear, static and snow, and I just watched them all for a moment. They looked like a happy family, minus the fact that their faces were gone, and I was in momentary shock.

"Mom?" I asked, my voice echoed around the entire house. The ceilings seemed to rise twenty feet or higher then, the walls expanded so far outward that I couldn't see them anymore, all that was left was the small living room set and my featureless family. It was dark, the only light being that of the snowy television. "Mom?" I asked again, my heart thumped in my throat. That's when they all looked up at me in one simultaneous movement. A virulent chill rippled down my body then as I looked back; their eyeless faces just stared in silence for what felt like ages.

Finally the figure of my mother stretched her arms out to me, my sister resting her hands on the woman's shoulders, and my father thrummed another page in his book unobtrusively, though he obviously wasn't reading now, he hadn't even looked back down at it. I took a step back, sure about my first assessment that something was very wrong here, but I didn't move. I tried again, but the more I tried the more I stayed in place. A thin white line stretched across my mother's face where her mouth should have been, it cut the blackness in twain where it sat though it was no thicker than a piece of string. Slowly that line opened, globules of the inky darkness refused to be severed as it took on a frightening caricature of a smile leaving a white grin with greasy black runs. Then they were all smiling at me and I yelled out for help.

I sat bolt upright in the car seat, but my seatbelt caught the moment I realized I was still wearing it and sent me snapping back down into the back of my chair. My chest heaved and I felt beads of sweat rolling down my forehead. Where was I? Everything was strange and out of focus, a bleary blue-grey light shined all around me and I tried to blink my eyes into working. I smelled gasoline, then the overhead light came on and I turned quickly as the driver's side door opened. Percy's outline quickly went from a formless blob into that of the increasingly familiar young man I knew and I hate to say it but relief flooded down my throat and into my chest the next moment, silencing the pitter-patter of my rapidly beating heart.

"Why're you screaming?" Percy asked, it was dark and I looked around. We were at a gas station, the nozzle of a pump was inserted into the side of our car and slowly a price that wouldn't get paid was racking up way past what I thought was a fair payment. "Bad dream?" My ears were ringing and everything still felt disoriented so instead of saying anything I just nodded. "Drink this," I took the can in his hand and without though I drank. I nearly spit the contents of it out all over the dash.

"What is that shit?" I asked, my voice deep and gravely with sleep.

"Year old Mr. Pibb," Percy explained, taking a swig. "It's all we got, well, there's some Gatorade and water, but I just wanted some caffeine." I groaned and sat back, something wet licked my face and I pushed Mrs. O'Leary's snout away from my ear.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Still in Idaho, Salt Lake City, actually," He said. "Figured we might as well visit the capital,"

"But it's night time," I said looking around.

"Yeah," Percy said. "It is, apparently the gas hand was just stuck on full, most of the gas probably evaporated or something, we broke down about fifteen, maybe twenty miles back."

"How did we get here?" I was full of questions having just woken up.

"I hoofed it, the sign said we weren't too far from a gas station, I prayed they had a working pump and something for me to carry some gas back in." He shrugged. "When I got here the sun was setting, when I got back the moon was coming up." He handed me the flat soda and I took another sip, having forgotten that it was swill.

It didn't go down any better the second time.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked, feeling bad for him having to have made the journey all his own.

"You were sleeping soundly, I didn't want to," Percy shrugged. "Besides, Mrs. O'Leary walked with me, you kept Tyson company." He pointed to my lap. "You gave him a scare when you tossed him off like that," Percy petted the cat, who purred under his touch. "Anyway, I found a gas can and filled it up after I found a pump that worked and here we are." He smiled.

"You could have taken me," I said.

"It might have been dangerous, I made sure to lock the doors when I left," He returned easily, nonchalantly. I couldn't recall a time where I wanted to hit someone so badly; I _wasn_ ' _t_ a damsel in distress.

"I'm a big boy Percy, I can handle myself," I said sternly. "If you think I'm a burden you can just say it." He shook his head no.

"That's not what I meant, I was afraid that you—that I…" He paused. "I didn't want anything to happen to you."

"You said I've got abandonment issues, I think you've got a messiah complex," I crossed my arms. "You don't always have to try to save me Percy." I was expecting a smartass remark accompanied by a chuckle and maybe a hair tussle, but instead I was met by silence. I looked over at him and he was just staring at me, his eyes were slowly turning red. "What?" I asked.

"I—" He bit his lip. "That's what Annabeth said, before she died. That I couldn't save everyone, and that I was best off going on by myself." A tear fell out of his eye and my chest tightened. "She was right," He whispered. "I couldn't save any of them."

Fuck. I didn't know what to do. Shit. Percy was about to cry; _I_ made Percy cry after he had done nothing but have my best interests at heart. _Fuck_! I didn't know he even possessed the ability to cry, he shouldn't have, a guy that smiled that much was supposed to have shriveled tear ducts. "Percy," I said. "Percy, I'm sorry, I didn't know." I reached across and touched his arm. God, I was horrible at this kind of thing. He shook his head.

"You're right, you know?" Percy said then and he looked up at me, wiping his face. "I'm sorry."

"No!" I said. "Fuck, no! Don't be sorry, this is my fault, I had a bad dream that scared me, and then you ran off by yourself, just don't do it again okay?" He nodded and wiped at the few tears that had run down his cheeks. I really didn't know the whole story for him, he told me all of it of that I was sure, but he had left out the emotions behind it. I couldn't imagine it, losing your girlfriend, then your brother, then your best friend turned lover all after having watched your parents die. I was taking advantage of his stability, he had suffered just as much as I had, he was just better at hiding his pain. "You can save me as many times as you want," I added lowly, hoping he would smile.

He did and he looked away. "Yeah, okay, thanks." He said. The gas pump clicked signifying that the tank was full. He wiped at his face some more and gave a low chuckle. "Sorry, I don't usually breakdown like that, it was just quiet and when it's quiet I start thinking." He shook his head and climbed into the truck. "We should find somewhere to sleep tonight, I'm tired and I don't think you should drive."

"What? I can drive just fine thank you," I said perturbed. He grabbed my arm by the wrist and held my hand up.

"You're shaking Nico," My hands were shaking pretty violently. I tried to stop them but they wouldn't, I sighed and put my wrists in my lap, where Tyson happily sat on top of them. "What was your dream about?" He asked me, he was still misty eyed but he looked concerned. It struck me as funny, neither of us was of sound enough mind to be trekking across the United States apparently, but here we were in Salt Lake City, on what Percy called a "road-trip" and I was just along for the ride.

"It was nothing," I said quietly, recalling the shadowy faces of my parents and my sister Bianca. Those horrible, inhuman grins. I started shaking more though and Percy's arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"It wasn't nothing," He said softly in my ears, his warm breath made my thoughts foggy and I leaned into him. It would have been so easy, surrendering. Just letting him have me then and there, I know he wanted it. I wonder if he would have left me stranded after we did the deed. I wondered if he would come back for more. But Percy wasn't the kind of guy to just leave you, and as big as his libido seemed to be he would have definitely wanted more. I felt my face flush and he held his big hands against the side of my face. "You're burning up."

"That's your fault," I said without thinking, He kissed the top of my head.

"I'm sorry," He said again and I grew warmer still. Suddenly my clothes were constricting, locking me in a prison of heat that I was steadily more uncomfortable in. "Nico," He was so close, I looked up into his eyes and he was smiling. "You don't like this sort of thing, remember?" I blinked. "What was your dream about?"

"My family," I said absently. "Can we not talk about it?" He kissed my forehead this time and I lingered there longer than I should have.

"Sure," His voice was still so soft. Tentatively I stretched my neck up and I kissed him; it was stupid but he made me feel safe, my head was saying that there hadn't been enough time between us, but my heart was pounding in my chest as he kissed me back. He pulled back. "Three days," He said and I gave him a strange look.

"What?"

"It only took three days," He said pointing to the truck's radio clock. He was smiling widely and realization dawned on me. Percy had said something about it taking less than a week for me to fall for him. That bastard.

"You bastard!" I said and pushed away from him, my cheeks were burning hotly.

"I'm sorry, I just thought it was funny," He leaned over to the passenger's side and I moved away from what would have been a kiss to the cheek. "Come on, it's funny."

"It's not funny," I glared over at him. "You're playing me."

"I'm not," Percy said. "You're really likeable, Nico,"

"Likeable?" I asked and he was grinning now, but I could see the easy hurt in his eyes and it chipped away at what might have been anger inside of me. I sighed. "Come on, let's go before it gets too dark." He kissed me again, and I turned just the slightest so that our lips were touching but I was in no way happy about his prophetic words. Then he pulled back again and got out of the car, he set the pump back down on its stand and then screwed the gas cap back into the car. He climbed back in and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together, with the other hand he started the engine and grabbed the steering wheel driving away from the gas station. I worried my fingers in his grasp, his hand was strong and rough and mine were sweaty, I wanted to pull away but he didn't let go and after my second try I gave up on trying to get my hand back, it wasn't completely undesirable to be holding his hand, in fact, it wasn't completely undesirable to be holding him.

Fucking Percy with his superhero ways. It felt like I'd known him my whole life, or maybe that he had been my oldest friend, and that might not have been far from the truth, but I'll never know how he had corralled me so quickly. Well, if he thought it was that easy then he had another thing coming to him, he wasn't going to get any farther than kissing with me. He squeezed my hand and I swallowed, _hopefully_ I could steel my own need for human contact long enough to keep that thought a plausible one. I don't know. Maybe I really was scared to be a onetime thing, a part of my mind thought perhaps that he still might throw me away. Shit, he was right. I did have abandonment issues. He didn't have to know about that realization either.

It wasn't long before we pulled up outside of a Ramada Inn. "Think anything in there still works?" I asked him and he turned the car off.

"Only one way to find out," He held our hands up and kissed my fingers. "Let's go, Neeks,"

"That's not my damn name," I said as we climbed out of the car, he just laughed and grabbed me by the waist as he came around the front of the truck. He tickled my sides and I jumped and screamed. I was really very ticklish, something I didn't go around advertising. "Percy!" I screamed, caught between a laugh and a giggle.

"Oh, snap," He said and I could hear the danger in his voice.

"No." I turned around quickly. "No!" But the next moment he had me pinned against the side of the truck running his hands up and down my sides and around my belly, under my arms, his fingers worked like spider's legs and I was giving compulsive laughter. "Percy stop!" I screamed, laughter filling up the otherwise silent night air.

"Nuh-uh," He said tickling harder, his hands flitted under my shirt.

"Percy I'm gonna piss on myself!" I yelled and he laughed, his fingers turned from feather light glances to hard grabbing. He gripped me around the waist, warm, calloused hands now moving slowly up and down. Residually I was still chuckling.

"So how do I make you feel, Nico?" He asked seriously.

"You make me feel like I have to pee now," I said trying to duck out of his grasp. But he was staring me in the face now, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"No," He said and he kissed my lips lightly. "How do you feel about me?" I looked away from his eyes, it was like my answer would decide on something important inside of him and I didn't want any decisions like that.

"Why?" I asked, he rested his head on top of mine and there was no space between us now. I felt him sniff my hair and he held me tightly.

"Because I need to know," He said.

"Why?" I asked again and his body was trembling with feigned laughter.

"Because I need you, Nico. I'm all alone," He said easily. "I need you." The playfulness of him fell away then with those three words. All of his joking, all of his smiles, they all fell to pieces. I tried to push him back so I could see him better but he held fast to me.

"Why me?" I asked quietly. "Because I'm the only person around? The only way you'll ever get your kicks?" I didn't mean for it to sound hurtful, I told him I didn't know how to deal well with emotions hadn't I? "I don't want to be your last resort, Percy. Can't we just let this be what it is? You want me out of convenience, and I…" I let that trail off.

"Not out of convenience," He spoke in my ear now. "Out of necessity. Nico, you're the first guy I've met in a while, yeah? So what, why is that a problem? You're not my last resort, believe me. I _want_ you, okay?"

"Why!" I shouted. I wanted to figure this out now, I wanted to know what was so fucking fascinating about me, why he was holding me so tightly. "You don't know me, Percy. I'm awkward and weird and I can't do anything right. I'm weird looking and I'm selfish and I have abandonment issues like you said and—" The rest of the words were muffled in my mouth as he kissed me long and hard, lifting me up on the door so that I could properly return the kiss.

One of us was crying, that seemed to be all we were good for. I wrapped myself securely around him, and he kissed me till my mind was hazy, I already had a hard enough time thinking straight at all. But my hectic brain was distracted by how his hips jutted forward, how unforgiving the heat between us was, the friction. "Percy," I said in his ear gutturally. He went forward against and ground up against me. I gripped onto him harder. "Percy, you gotta stop," I pled but if he heard me he didn't care. "Percy!" He bit my neck and I couldn't hold on any longer. "Ah!" I gasped, and then I did the most embarrassing thing that was possible.

"Did you just—?"

"Shut up." I growled hitting him in the chest repeatedly. "I told you to fucking stop!"

"I'm sorry," But he didn't look very sorry. I was mortified. Oh, my fucking God I was mortified. I felt my face burning and I felt my eyes prickle. The spunk was warm between my legs and I could feel it sticking to my thighs.

"Put me down," My voice was barely above a whisper.

"What if I don't want to?" He was barely suppressing a gigantic grin, his lips were twitching and embarrassment was felt quite a bit like shame inside of me. I hit him more in the chest, pounding my fists against wherever I could hit and he just let me. "Nico it's not that big a-deal."

"Yes it is!" I said, I couldn't ever recall blushing more than I had with Percy around.

"I think it's flattering," There was no use, I couldn't hurt hit and he wasn't letting me down. My face flamed and I really just wanted to die. I couldn't believe I had actually cum. I should have had more control than that, I rested my head against his shoulder.

"I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be, Neeks," He pulled my face up and kissed my lips again and then set me on the ground. "I liked seeing your face like that." I rolled my eyes, as if that would ease my shame; I opened the door for Mrs. O'Leary to get out and with her in tow I pushed past him towards the dark hotel.

"Let's just forget this happened, okay?" I said over my shoulder, still not happy about how sticky my pants were now, they clung to me in a gooey sort of way and I tried not to let it affect my stride, but I knew I was walking funnily because I heard Percy laughing behind me. Bastard. I heard the car door slam closed and he groped me from behind. "Percy I'm warning you—"

"Don't worry, it's forgotten, but I grabbed your clothes in case you wanted to change them." I just kept walking, there was no way I was going to let him see me like this, with my face cherry colored and horrified. How old was I, twelve? We pushed into the building and I tried not thinking about one: how dark it was, and two: how eerie it looked with everything left just as it had been. Normally hotels were bustling with energy, everyone running back and forth. Now it was just a shell. Percy walked up to the front desk. "Honeymoon suite, please?" He said to no one in particular and I rolled my eyes. Then he walked behind the counter and grabbed a cardkey. "The good thing, no one's around to cut the power off when people don't pay their bills, right?" He asked and flicked a light switch. Haltingly did the lights above come on, they blinked once, twice, three times and then a dim _bzzz_ -ing sound hit the air as the entire hotel was light by just a few strokes of the switches.

I didn't say anything. He came back around and picked me up, I gasped. "Put me down!"

"Nope, stop pouting and I might," He slung me over his shoulder and I cursed my small size. Kicking and yelling I was taken up a flight of stairs to the left of the desk, he opened the door for the second floor corridor and perused the room numbers. My cries of "Percy, if you don't put me down right now—!" and "I swear to God I'll kill you!" Went unheeded, but my voice echoed in the empty hallways.

Finally we stopped outside of a room and he turned to the door. "Does this count as me carrying you over the threshold?" He inserted the card and I heard a mechanical click signifying that the electric locks still worked. I was still very much protesting when I was carried into the room, which was flying by me the next thing I knew.

I landed on the bed with an, "Oomph!" and then Percy was on top of me. "Get off,"

"I'm trying, you had your turn," He lifted my shirt leaving hard nips all along my abdomen, biting hard enough for me to squeeze my eyes shut, but the pain was almost pleasant. His tongue traced lazy spirals around the circumference of my bellybutton and then he was kissing at the small line of pubic hair known as my happy trail. He unbuttoned my jeans.

"Enough!" I gasped and I held him by the shoulders. "That's enough. If I do something for you will you leave me alone for the rest of the night?" His eyes were devious and smiling, with him not immediately pressed against me I was finally able to breath for a moment and I looked around the room. It was moderately sized, there were hearts all over the place, a heart shaped Jacuzzi, heart shaped mirror, I looked down at the sheets I was sitting on, they were red. Of course the bed was heart shaped as well. "Really?" I asked. "The honeymoon suite?"

"I wasn't kidding," He chuckled and he climbed up the bed, easily draping himself around me. "You don't have to do anything, Nico, just testing the waters, seeing how far you'll let me go." He was smiling again.

"You're an ass," I collapsed backwards on the bed and was very disturbed to see a mirror on the ceiling as well.

"But you're stuck with me now," He laid down beside me and wrapped me in his arms, I let him. In our haste—well, Percy's haste—we had forgotten about two key things. One, Mrs. O'Leary was very accustomed to sleeping beside me so it was no surprise when she jumped up on the bed, and two, Tyson was a very lazy cat. He crawled on top of Percy and instantly fell asleep.

"This is not happening," I said crushed, once again, between my dog and my acquaintance. "You," I kicked the boy behind me, who was working his way out of his pants. "Don't get used to this, and you," I said to Mrs. O'Leary. "You're continually letting me get molested, we're going to have to work out a game plan." There were hands tugging at my jeans suddenly. "What the hell?"

"You need to lose these," Percy informed me. "I can't sleep if you're in pants."

"I need to wash off anyway, let me up." He didn't, instead his nimble fingers were more insistent on pantsing me. With one arm he lifted me and with the other my jeans were pulled down around my ankles. "Have you ever considered saying please?"

"Please," He laughed and with his unshod feet he kicked off my pants and my shoes. I held fast onto my underwear as they were nearly dragged off as well.

"You're way too forceful," He turned me around in his arms so that my face was in his chest.

"Sorry," I looked him square in the eyes.

"You know I'm mad at you don't you?" I asked and he nodded.

"I figured as much," He kissed me, when did it become cool to just do that whenever he wanted again? Probably the moment I gave in and kissed him back. I had fucked myself over by liking the way it felt because now he felt obliged to just lean down and peck my lips if the mood struck him.

"I really want to wash off," I said.

"Okay!" He said jumping up, his hands were under my arms and we were rolling off the bed, Tyson jumping over to the side where Mrs. O'Leary eyed her, growled lowly and then closed her eyes again.

"Stop picking me up!" I shouted, held bridal style now.

"But it's so fun," He took us into the adjoining bathroom, which was stocked full of lotions and other inexcusable items for honeymooners. I crossed my arms and glared at him because obviously my yelling was being ignored as usual. He set me down on the toilet lid and turned to the tub.

"I meant bathe alone." Percy ignored me and turned the water over but the pipes didn't so much as puff dust. "Oh well, no shower for—" He hit the wall of the shower and a moment later there was rust colored water pouring out of the faucet. "Ew." I said.

"Give it a minute," He returned, and true to his word soon the brownish-red water was more murky than anything else, and not long after that it was clear. "There we go, just takes a steady hand," He grinned over his shoulder.

"Alright, now get out." I stood up off of the toilet seat.

"Is that all the thanks I get for fixing the shower for you?" He took his shirt off.

"You hit it." I said and that caused him to chuckle.

"Bet you it wouldn't've worked if you did it," He said and I rolled my eyes.

"Out!" I said, he splashed me. "Bastard!" I tried and failed not to smile, Percy stepped forward and rubbed my face with his wet hands, then he tickled the my sides again. "Fuck you, Percy Jackson!" I laughed loudly.

"That's the idea," He grinned. Then he pulled my shirt over my head, I crossed my arms again. "You've got cute nipples, they're so small." I slapped his arm, he grabbed the waistband of my briefs and started to peel them down slowly. I grabbed onto them and for a few seconds we were playing tug-of-war with Nico's underpants. Finally he won when my resolve for covering myself with my hands won out over my will to keep on the triangle cut undies as they were beginning to rip.

I held my dangly-bits in my hands, trying to cover up completely and blushing down to the root. "I hate you." I glared, he tossed the underwear to the floor and stood, taking his own off.

"For some reason I don't believe that," He smiled and tried to capture my lips again, I looked away.

"You really need to slow down." I told him very seriously. "Please?" His smile lessened and he stared me in the eyes. We didn't blink for a long time, the sound of water running in the background.

"You're serious?" I nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll slow down."

"Really slow." I said. "Think snail,"

"Snail it is," Then he gripped me by my waist and promptly dropped me into the now steamy and clear bathwater. He grabbed something off the bathroom counter and jumped in behind me, popping the cap on whatever it was in his hands he drizzled it into the water, where immediately bubbles began springing up.

"I'm still not expecting company for this bath," I said, he opened his legs and pulled me back against him.

"You said slow, not dead." He laughed and I heard him opening another bottle of something, this time it found its way into my hair. It was quite cold and soon he was massaging it into my scalp.

"What is that?"

"Shampoo, scaredy-cat," He laughed. "Sit back."

"You're still not forgiven," I told him but I leaned back against him as he brought a hand full of water and dropped it into my hand, the other rubbing sweet smelling shampoo all over.

"I know," He chuckled. "But you can at least let me try to make it up by washing you off."

"Pervert,"

"Hey, you got to watch me shower _and_ you jizzed your pants, I'm just trying to even us out." I grabbed one of his arms and pulled it over my shoulder, then I bit down on it. "Ow! Shit! I'm just saying, let go you freaking cannibal!" I bit down just the slightest bit harder before I let him go.

"Serves you right," I said, but he was quick with his revenge, his teeth sank into the back of my neck, eliciting a completely different effect. "Percy! Stop!" I cried and his hands sunk under the water gripping my nakedness firmly.

"Why? You gonna cum in the bathtub?" He asked evilly, and then he nipped me again and relinquished me. I went to stand but he gripped my shoulders holding me down. He laughed in my ear. "Here's the deal, if I have to slow up you have to joke more."

"That's extortion!" I yelled, he wrapped his legs around me and flitted with the sides of my stomach. I jumped, causing waves in the large tub. "Fine! I give, no more tickling!" Percy kissed my neck and pulled me back, my back against his chest.

"There that's how we compromise," I watched him put more shampoo in his hands and then he was massaging my scalp again.

"You're still an ass," I said.

"But I'm your ass, now." He answered emphatically.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Posted with Permission**

 **Chapter Five:** Renaissance

The sensation of something wet woke me up, something wet accompanied by hot and rank smelling breath. Mrs. O'Leary was licking me in the face, her tongue darted over my nose and my lips and down my chin leaving a disgusting line of drool. I pushed her away. "Gross," I croaked, it was the wee hours of the morning when the sun was just rising and the horizon was still pink. Mrs. O'Leary whined low in her throat and I popped an eye open. "Do you need to go outside, girl?" I asked and her tail began wagging back and forth. I let my head hit the pillow, since I had slept the entire way here I wasn't really tired anymore but I was incredibly comfortable, something I wasn't entirely used to. Comfort seemed to be making it difficult for me to stay awake. Mrs. O'Leary barked once and her tail wagged faster. "I'm getting up, I'm getting up," I said and I threw the sheets over my leg, I tried to move but my body was caught by something.

I looked down and sure enough there were strong hands locked around my waist, which led up to strong arms around the rest of me. Well, no wonder I was so comfortable. Percy was snoring lightly in my ear, from the way we had fallen asleep my body was spooned into his, our middles separated by our respective boxer shorts. I tried to unlock his fingers, but Percy simply pulled me closer. Even sleeping he was being annoying. "Percy," I said loudly, but he snuggled deeper into my back. I sighed and maneuvered my way out of his grip with difficulty, I had to raise his arms up and shimmy down to the foot of the bed. Somehow our legs had become intertwined as well, I yanked my right leg out from between his and ended up falling flat on my back out of bed. "Damn it," I stood up only for my side to be poked by a cold nose. Mrs. O'Leary whined again. "Alright, I get it," I growled at her, she laid down on the ground and covered her face with her paws. I rolled my eyes, only I would have the world's most sensitive dog. "Sorry," I said offhandedly and went over to the bag Percy had brought in with him. I pulled out a pair of cargo shorts and a light green short sleeve shirt—it wasn't my style, but then again beggars couldn't be choosers. Quickly I dressed and pulled on my socks and shoes, Mrs. O'Leary led us out of the room after I opened the door. We made our way down the stairs and out of the door.

By now I had learned to ignore the skeletal figures that we passed, the now nonhumans that were the decorations of every town and city I went into. They were eerie to stare at because their dry, leathery skin was pulled taut against nothing but bone, the rest of their insides rotted and decayed away. My dog on the other hand had no qualms about sniffing every last not person that lined the floor and the sidewalk as we made our way out of the hotel. It had gotten to the point where I literally just stepped over the dead without thinking about it, it wasn't something you _could_ think about. Recently though I had been breaking a few of my rules, before Percy had come along I would have never had such a nightmare about my family, I didn't think about them. I didn't think about anything but survival, that's how it was supposed to be. I didn't have the luxury of being sad, or being upset, or even happy most times I just had to be of sound mind—or, that's how it was three days ago.

Now I found myself turning my eyes away from what I'm guessing had been a woman, she was wearing a gray turtle necked shirt and a dark blue long skirt, but she was skeletal like I had said before. Her skin was beginning to fall away now, gray and puckered; her eyes were closed and sunken in. Her hair was still arrayed around her, but it was thinning and greasy. She was the thing night frights were made of and I felt myself shiver.

I whistled because Mrs. O'Leary had her nose pressed against the woman, the dog perked her ears up and leapt towards me and I sent her out into the grass. I crossed my arms and waited for her to find a particular spot she liked. While she sniffed around I turned and observed the city of Boise, Idaho. It really was a beautiful place, historical buildings were erected all along the streets and old fashioned lampposts lined the sidewalks. Even on a day as dreary and overcast as today I could see that it was a gorgeous city, the full color of it melded quaintly with the brilliant greens of the trees and it looked as if on every block there was a museum of some sort. I wasn't a museum kind of guy, but they were still something to consider as I swept the streets with my eyes. I inhaled deeply letting the fresh air clear my lungs after having just studied the derelict form of a dead body, I was still shuddering. Mrs. O'Leary barked and I turned to the door, Percy walked outside in his sleepwear, i.e. his underwear. "What're you—"

"What're you—" We said at the same time, near the same inflection. "What are you doing, Percy?" I asked him as he came all the way out. "And why don't you have any clothes on?"

"Who am I going to offend?" Percy said, there was some logic to that statement. "I woke up and you were gone, I checked the bathroom and a few of the other hotel rooms. I thought you had left." He was quiet for a few seconds, his eyes darting back and forth as they examined my face. "What are you doing out here?"

I felt my expression scrunch up with incomprehension, "I'm walking my dog," I told him, returning the favor and examining him back. "You're about to freak out." It was true, he looked a little frantic, quickly an easy smile broke out over his lips and lessened the small bit of anxiety that was touching his eyes.

"Just a little, I mean — I really did think you left." He rubbed his left arm with his right hand. "That, uh, would've sucked, you know?" I rolled my eyes and hid a small smile.

"Well, unfortunately I'm still here," I said. "I'll stick around a little longer, it's not like I have anything better to do," Then I did chance a small smirk which was met by a rather large smile, he came up to me and extended his hand. "What're you doing there, Perce?" I asked skeptically, looking down at the hand.

"Shake it," He said.

"Isn't shaking hands for people who've just met?" I asked and he laughed, grabbing my hand he shook it for the both of us.

"What you said last night got through to me, Nico, you seemed really uncomfortable—well, not all of you did," He grinned, I rolled my eyes again and tried to yank my hand back. He held firm. "But, seriously, I wanted to start over and try to make a better impression, since I don't think I'm leaving a very positive one on you right now." Here I laughed.

"How right you are," I told him.

"So what do you say? Forgive me?"

I made the farce of pretending to think about the offer, even after having fallen out of bed I was in surprisingly good spirits. Besides, what was I going to say, no? "Why not?" I said. "Friends," We shook hands.

"Friends!" He laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders. "Come on back inside, I'll rustle us up something to eat,"

"You should put some clothes on too," I said, but he just shrugged.

"Nah, not unless we decide to get a move on today," He made his way over to the truck and pulled our cooler out of the bed of it. "Besides, we're both men here, right? You don't have a problem with it do you?"

"I—" My eyes roamed over his chest for a moment, then I forced myself to cut my vision back up to his face, meeting him in his startling blue eyes. "Just don't catch pneumonia," I tried to sound flippant, he chuckled as he brought the container back inside with him, Mrs. O'Leary at our heels.

"Shoot," He said, and I don't think he meant it in that way that people mean when they talk about guns, he said it in the colloquial epithet for the word 'shit'. "back home when it got so hot during the Summer I used to walk around the house all the time in just my shorts," He grinned over at me. "Most times me and Grover and a few of the guys would go skinny dipping down at the river,"

"Fascinating," I deadpanned.

"Those were better times," He said, his smile a bit more serene now. "Back when we could just goof off." As we walked I relied on my ability to ignore the dead, the grotesque and the gruesome. Why was I seeing them now? Before it had been so easy to just not notice them, I had to let them fall back into the background. "What about you?" Percy asked, I realized that it was a follow up question, the first part of which I had not heard.

"Me, what?" I asked.

"What was Summer like for you, back before all this? We're getting to know each other, remember? Friends," I looked over at him, he seemed just as intent on ignoring the corpses as me. I wondered if he still saw them.

"Summer was…Summer was busy," I told him, remembering things I tried not to remember. "We would go visit my grandparents over in Italy for the Summers,"

"That's cool," Percy said. "Did you have any brothers and sisters?"

"One sister," I said. "Bianca,"

"I bet she was pretty," That caught me off guard.

"Why do you say that?" I asked quizzically, I realized we were walking towards the kitchen of the hotel, we passed through the dining room, which was thankfully devoid of anyone's dead body.

"Because she's _your_ sister," He said easily. "Good looking guy like you has to come from a pretty nice stock of folks," I felt color flood into my cheeks then, he was always so heavy with the compliments. "Why don't you tell me some more about yourself, Nico? I feel like I bore you when I talk,"

Again I had to ask, "Why?"

"'Cause most of the time you just stare at me," He said with a smile, shrugging. Did I really?

"Sorry," I said quickly. "I don't mean to,"

"It's alright," He pushed his bare shoulder against me in a playful shove, I think I was supposed to laugh here but I didn't, the concept of palling around was lost on me. We emerged into the kitchen; it was shiny in chrome glory. Pots and pans, and ladles and spatulas all hung from metal hooks lining the ceiling, long metal prep tables were spread all throughout the place. Electric stoves, boy was I glad they had caught on, with eyes that still worked once Percy fiddled with the switches for a little while sat against the wall opposite of us as well. Then Percy lugged the rather large cooler onto one of the prep tables and opened it. "We'll have to get some more ice soon," He said. "Check that freezer over there," I followed his finger and found myself at a large deep freezer. I opened it, it protested from not having been dealt with in what I'm guessing was a year, but finally opened with a resounding ' _pop_ ' sound.

"No ice," I said, there were fancy frozen dinner rolls, frozen vegetables, frozen just about everything, but no ice.

"S'alright," Percy was setting to work on loading us up with more junk food from Wal-Mart. "We can just freeze what's in here and use it again as ice," He grinned. "Wood burning stoves, now those would be useful," He told me as he turned the oven on. "Hell, if we find a grill along the way I'll pack it up and bring it along with us,"

"You're just a regular Renaissance man aren't you?" I asked, lifting myself onto the counter beside him.

"You can thank my stepdad," Percy laughed. "He was a professor, but aside from that he put me in Scouts when I was, like, seven." Scouts? The boy scouts? I laughed. "It's true," He said. "I'm an Eagle Scout now,"

"And a Marine," I said with reverence. "You really can do it all,"

"Nah, I never got deployed," Percy told me. "I just did my basic, I was supposed to be assigned over in Korea for two years after I had a little rest at home, before—you know, the virus." He set Hot Pockets and Pizza Rolls together on the same tray. "I was going to study over there while I waited, the government would have paid for it, gotten my degree, come back over here and made something out of myself." I watched him work, loading in an actual frozen pizza now. "Me, and Mom we did our best to get by before she met Paul, she worked where she could while me and Tyson went to school, she had two sometimes three jobs. She hooked up with this loser named Gabe for a while, he beat her, never laid a hand on me or my brother. Finally she got fed up with him and we left." His eyes were far off now. "I swore I wouldn't ever let anyone abuse my family after that," He clenched his fists. "When I got in second grade she met Paul, he was a great guy. They got married when I was in fifth grade, he moved us out to his ranch."

"He sounds like a good guy," I said.

"And he was smart too," Percy grinned with pride. "I thought he was a geek at first, he was Shakespearean trained in stage combat, he knew theater and music and the arts, but that turned out to be one of the coolest parts about him. He was the one who got me into band."

" _You_ were in band?" I asked skeptically. "I saw the band geeks at my school, I would hardly put you in the same category," Percy shrugged good naturedly.

"Band geeks are the best people in the world," He laughed. "I don't think you were looking hard enough when you saw those quote/unquote "geeks." I thought about that.

"Maybe not, but still. I see you more as, like, the head of the football team or something,"

"I was never one for playing on a school team," He told me. "I tried to be on the swim team, didn't work out so well, me and the coach butted heads all the time, I was the fastest swimmer he had though," Then he seemed to be done loading food into the stove and he closed the door to it. All I got from him explaining his reasons for quitting the swim team was an image of Percy in a skin tight speedo, that was a thought I pushed away quickly. His glistening body strutting about in those skimpy briefs as they barely concealed his bulging mass—I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"No, just…" I let the thought trail in the air. "It's nothing," I said managing a bashful smile.

"You're blushing," He laughed. "What're you thinking about?"

 _You in a speedo_. "Nothing important," He laughed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to man, that's cool," He grinned. "But if it's something that could make your whole face red like that it's got to be good." I felt my cheeks with my hands, they were on fire. I cursed under my breath. "You know, you never told me about your Summer days, Neeks,"

I sighed, "Please don't call me that," I said. "That's such an ugly name."

"Alrighty, what's your nickname?" I looked over at him. "What? I wanna know," My nickname, well it wasn't that was a particularly difficult one but just a name I hadn't heard in a while. "You guessed mine pretty easily, everyone calls me Perce," I rolled my eyes. Of course they did, simple country boy, simple nickname that I—someone who had never met him before—could guess on the first try.

"Nicky," I said quietly. It's what my father and my sister and my mother had always called me.

"Nikkie?" He asked. "Like the girl's name?"

"No, Nicky like I just said," I told him hotly.

"Okay, okay," He laughed. "Calm down, tell me more about yourself, Nicky, I wanna know." It didn't have the same effect as when my family had called me by that name, it was different. There was a warm feeling in my chest when he said, not hot but just right.

"I-I don't know, what do you wanna know?" I said; I felt my cheeks still blushing. "I'm a pretty boring guy,"

"I hardly think that's the case," He chuckled. "Who was your best friend?"

"Didn't have one," I told him. He gave me a surprised look. "What?"

"Okay, who was your closest friend?" He asked me. I shrugged. "You're telling me you didn't have any friends? C'mon, you're playing with me?" I shrugged again. "I find that hard to believe."

"What can I say, people don't normally like me,"

"I like you,"

I laughed, "I'm the only person around for hundreds of miles, it's either me or the cat," He grinned and I found myself admiring it, my eyes trailed down his long lean body as he turned to look away, checking the food in the oven. He had such nice legs that tapered up to a pert, round behind, which I found myself remembering unclothed as Percy bent over to look into the stove. He was saying something, but I missed it. I felt my head cock to the side as I stared harder.

"Enjoying the view?" He asked, I blinked. He had turned around and apparently I was staring at the slit in his boxers. When had that happened? "I see why you wanted me to put some clothes on," He chuckled.

"Shut up," I barked. "You're the one parading around here half naked,"

"Should I take the underwear off?" I elbowed him in the ribs as he hoisted himself up onto the counter I was sitting on. He put an arm around me and ruffled my hair. "So am I your first friend?" He settled his head on top of mine and I leaned into him.

"Kind of," I said. "Most kids just stayed away from me when I was growing up, I never understood why. People flocked to my sister though, Bianca was such a socialite, everyone loved her." We sat there in silence for a little while after I said that.

"If it's any consolation I think you're a pretty cool dude, Nicky," He said in my ear. My chest tightened.

"Just call me Neeks, okay? It's weird when you call me that."

"Why?" He asked with a grin. " _Nicky_ ," His voice was a whisper, hot and wet inside of my ear. "What're you doing, Nico?" I opened my eyes, my hand was on the inside of his thigh and going higher, nearly snaking into his boxers. I pulled back and laid my hands in my lap.

"Nothing," I said hoarsely, swallowing dryly. "Nothing." I said again. "We started over. Friends, right? Friends don't do that, I-I'm sorry,"

"You're a strange one Nico, I can't tell if you're teasing me on purpose, or if you don't realize it yet," Percy laughed in my ear, he was still so close. He grabbed my hand and put it in his lap, I could feel the contours of him underneath my hand. "You can touch me as much as you want to, okay?" He pushed my hand harder into his slowly rising firmness.

"Percy, no," I whispered, but I couldn't pull away. I grasped him in my hand. "Percy…" He put my hand back in my lap and I felt my chest rising and falling.

"I'm here when you're ready, Nico," He kissed my cheek. "You just remember that." I grabbed his hands.

"You do so many crazy things to me," I told him quite seriously. He grinned widely.

"I tried my hardest," He laughed. "But, I'm not trying anymore. I meant what I said, I want to make a better impression on you Nico, I don't want you to think I'm just a predator waiting in the wings to have sex with you."

I sighed, "It's just nice to be wanted," I told him. He kissed my other cheek.

"That's no way to be," He said.

"Percy weren't you listening? People don't like me, friend-wise or romantically. It's not cool to be friends with me, it's not cool to even talk to me."

"Good thing I'm a band geek then,"

"You even giving me the time of day messes with my head, I'm not used to it," We were still holding hands and he squeezed mine, I laid my head on his shoulder. "Not to mention I'm pretty sure as soon as anything happened between us you'd lose interest."

"I don't lose interest, Nicky. I'm a committed kind of guy," I pulled my head up and looked him in the eyes. He was grinning as always. I pushed my lips against his lightly and he just kept smiling into the kiss. "Friends with benefits, maybe?" I pushed him away. "We'll figure something out later, kissing seems to be okay, anything else gets me hit."

"Like it hurts," I smiled and he pecked our lips together again.

"You've got a pretty good one-two," He chuckled, then he wrapped his arms around me. "You don't have to worry about anything, Nico, I'm not in any hurry. Hell, when we get to Camp Halfblood you'll probably be so sick of me you'll be happy to see other people, doesn't mean I'll stop trying."

"I thought you already had stopped trying," I grinned.

"Potato, poh-tah-toe," He shrugged. I laughed, with one more kiss he stepped back. "For what it's worth you do a pretty big number on me," That amused me.

"I see," I said. "I hope we're not talking about what's in your pants, because it's kind of standing up." He looked down and laughed loudly. He wasn't flaccid now, that was for sure.

"So it is," He adjusted himself so that the protrusion below was less noticeable, though I could still see the outline of him quite well. "Maybe I _should_ put some pants on."

"Yeah," I agreed amicably, I couldn't remember laughing so much. "Maybe you should."

"First though," He turned and opened the stove. "Ta-da," The smell of delicious food rolled out of the oven, my stomach growled. Was I becoming used to getting meals again everyday? That couldn't have been good, even if it was food that was no good for me. But, nowadays food that was good for me was probably growing on a farm somewhere I couldn't access. He pulled on a pair of oven mitts and our pseudo-Italian meal began. Tony's Pizza, Tostino's Pizza Rolls and Hot Pockets. My Grandmother would have wept if she knew I was eating stuff like this.

" _C_ ' _est delicieux_ ," I said.

"Aren't you Italian?" He asked with a laugh.

"Yup," I smiled. "I only know English though, how many languages do you speak?"

"Well, I was going to take Korean, but, uh, that fell through," He said. "So one." He pulled more food out of the stove and set it on the countertop. "We have the world at our beck and call, Nicky, what do you want to do today?"

"Uh…" I laughed.

"We'll figure that out too then," He made his way over to the door. "I'll be right back,"

"You're not going to take care of that, are you?" I asked motioning with my pointer finger up and down, indicating to his not-so-small problem.

"Don't worry about it," He laughed and then he was out the door. I stared after him for a while then I reached over and grabbed a Pizza Roll. Mrs. O'Leary barked and I tossed her one, they were still rather hot so she chomped on it loudly, opening her mouth and closing it again quickly.

"I like him," I told her. "I shouldn't, it's only been like a week, but I do." She barked again and I threw her another Pizza Roll. "I mean is that okay?" She happily chewed away at the food in her mouth and I sighed. "I don't know, if something happens it happens I guess," I ate another bite-sized snack. "It's not like he's a stranger anymore, he made sure of that, so I can't use it as an excuse." I shook my head. " _Never_ have I been so familiar with someone else's body before," My fingers twitched. I had no idea how famished I was, I grabbed a piece of regular pizza and quickly stuffed my face, working my way through my second one I gave the dog a Hot Pocket when Percy came back with Tyson on his shoulder. He looked good in a stripped blue buttoned down shirt and a pair of jeans, which were ripped at the knees, he was wearing black flip-flops on his feet. "Did you comb your hair?" I asked. His eyes went up as if to see his nicely coifed hair.

"Does it look bad?" He asked.

"Well, no," I said. "But…why?"

"New impression." He grinned. "Glad to see you started without me,"

"Like I was going to wait on you," I smirked. "Come on over here and get some,"

"Oh, the ways I could translate that," He sauntered in and grabbed a slice of pizza. "Is the dog eating your Hot Pocket?"

"No," I said. "The dog's eating _your_ Hot Pocket," I picked up the other one and promptly took a bite out of it. Percy made a laughable face and then came forward and bit the other end of the calzone like snack. I took a bite, then he took another, and I took one, and he took another, we played chicken with the Hot Pocket all the way until there wasn't a bite between us. I pecked his lips and licked my own.

"S'good, right?"

"It's not horrible," I said, however now I was feeling rather full. "Finish up the rest of it if you want,"

"Eight pieces of pizza and some twenty odd Pizza Rolls?" He asked.

"I believe in you," I said. "You're a growing boy," I patted his stomach, he kissed me again.

"You know I'm twenty-one, don't you? Not much of a boy."

"I know that now," I said. "Go on and eat, I think it's going to rain today."

"That's too bad," He said. "I was thinking we could find a lake around here somewhere and swim."

"Skinny dip?" I asked and he laughed.

"Sure," He said, chewing thoughtfully. "Maybe we can drive down to the beach soon, or we can visit all the national monuments. See the world's biggest ball of string?" I smiled.

"We can do whatever you want, Percy, I'm just here for the ride."

"No!" Percy said enthusiastically. "You're here for so much more than that, Nico. I think something brought us together, I don't know if it's fate or destiny or what, but you and me? We've got a long road ahead of us," I found myself smiling as wide as he was after that. When Percy was done eating, and Mrs. O'Leary and Tyson finished what Percy couldn't we made our way out of the hotel.

"Why Boise?" I asked him, staring over the streets at the historically beautiful city.

"It's just something they tried to make seem so important to us in school, isn't it?" Percy returned. "The capital cities, you know? I guess I just figured if there was anything for us to do it would be to visit this place." He shrugged, the skies opened up with a rip of thunder and we quickly loaded our re-frozen cooler back into the bed of the truck.

"You ever think about just settling down?" I asked as we all just barely avoided getting soaked. "Just staying in one place forever?"

"Sounds nice, doesn't it?" Percy smiled, starting the truck. "But we have to at least see if this Camp Halfblood thing is real or not, if it's not you and me can settle down wherever you want, if it is and we don't like it then I guess the same is true." He grabbed my hand.

"Why, Mr. Jackson, are you flirting with me? That sounds like a proposal,"

"It's a bit early for marriage isn't it?" Percy squeezed my hand. "But make of it what you will,"

"You know I hear people that rush into getting married always end up divorced," He laughed as he drove through the rain. "Have you even looked at the map?"

"We'll find an exit once we get on the interstate and we'll find somewhere to go, just us and an open road."

"Yeah, and a dog and a cat," I said,

"And a bottle of wine I snuck out of there when you weren't looking." Percy grinned, I squeezed his hand. I really did like him; I grew silent as another CD began to play over the speakers, it was an instrumental something that I had never heard before, but I wasn't surprised considering this was music Percy had picked out. "Coltrane," He said, I looked over at him.

"What?" I asked.

"That's what you're listening to right now," Percy said with a small smile as if reading my mind, gaze not leaving the road, his eyes were twinkling. "That man knew how to play," I listened to the jazzy tune and I thought it was appropriate for how drizzly it was outside. I yawned, my stomach was full and my body was warm and comfortable. "You're not going to fall asleep on me again, are you?" Percy asked.

"What? No," I said, hiding another yawn behind my hand. "What would make you say that?"

"You just seem to have a penchant for sleeping on long car rides," He thumbed my knuckles.

"Perish the thought," I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. We rode to Coltrane for a while, the warmth of the heater and the pitter-patter of the Summer rain hitting the windshield was making my eyelids droop.

"You're falling asleep," Percy said, but his voice was a distant thing, echoing from far away. "Goodnight, Nicky," I was pretty sure I wasn't falling asleep and I said just that, but it came out in a slurring of words. The next thing I knew the world was falling away in a warm, fuzzy blur. I really had to stay awake for Percy so he wouldn't be so lonely while he drove, but he was able to set a mood that allowed me to catch up on all the sleep I had been missing somehow.

Either way, once again I fell asleep on Percy, literally—though this time it wasn't on purpose.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Posted with Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Six:** Storms

Percy and I found ourselves in the state formerly known as Wyoming. I say formerly because being the only people in the world we could call it whatever the hell we wanted to. "The Percy Jackson Republic, I so deem it!" Percy said cheerily from the driver's seat and I laughed. So I had warmed up to him, he really was annoying in the best possible sense. There we were in The Percy Jackson Republic, or as I liked to call it still: Wyoming, and we _weren_ ' _t_ about to go swimming in a lake in National Yellowstone Park because I'm sure at some point in time that would have been illegal. At least, that's what the signs said. Percy parked the car and we got out. It really wasn't my idea to go for a swim; in fact I was wholly and utterly against it—until the thought of Percy being shirtless again pervaded just about every last thought in my head. I sighed, because there was seriously something going on with me and closed the door behind me.

You would think that by now I would be used to Percy's nudity, you would think. Well, you would be wrong. I watched him running towards the lake with abandon, shoes flew into the air, then socks, his shirt, his pants, and at last his underwear. Shaking my head I only laughed as his cute little ass was shown bare to the world, had I ever mentioned Percy's tan lines? No? Well, it must be because he didn't have any, if Percy was going to lay out in the sun he was going to do it right—his words, not mine. I opened the back door to our truck and let the animals out, immediately Mrs. O'Leary went to a bounding run that let me know her leg was doing a lot better, she was still limping but she didn't seem to care. "Percy!" I called. "Stop her and take her bandages off before she gets in the water!" He held up the universal OK sign and I reached further into the back.

Tyson was, at leisure, sleeping. He popped one cat eye open at me, which had too many colors running through it today for me to properly describe—just a rainbow of blues and greens—and as if I weren't worth his time he simply turned over and went right back to sleep. I wasn't looking for him anyway; I opened one of our bags and pulled out a pair of swim trucks I had swiped from the last Dollar General we had stopped at. We loaded up on drinks and snack foods, but mostly candy though truthfully I was getting tired of junk food. I'll be the first to admit that I was craving something different. Steamed lemon chicken with a nice broccoli and rice compliment, glazed salmon and asparagus, Mu Gu Guy Pan maybe. But, we were living on what was nonperishable and it was all we could do for now.

I changed into a pair of God awful Bermuda swim trunks, there were so many tacky designs on it that it resembled a shirt from the early nineties more than it did a pair of trunks. I folded my clothes and sat them in the backseat where Tyson promptly stood, stretched, walked over to them and sat right back down. "Thanks," I told him, he mewled in replied. I closed the car door and walked over to the side of the lake.

"Why are you wearing those?" Percy asked, floating around in the water lazily.

"Just 'cause," I told him, touching the water with my toe.

"Don't wanna pop a stiffy while you're swimming?" He was smiling toothily, cheekily, and I rolled my eyes. I liked Percy, but it was suddenly difficult to understand exactly why. "Stop pussyfooting around, just jump in!" I saw Mrs. O'Leary dog paddling out towards the middle of the lake. Well, of course she was dog paddling, I wouldn't have expected her to be doing the breast stroke—that would have been amazing.

"I'm trying to acclimate my body temperature," I said, which did not appear to be the right answer as a wave of water that escaped my constraints of plausibility in size hit me. I was suddenly quite soaked from head to toe, and not only was I soaked but now I was shivering. The lake was extremely cold. "P-P-Percy!" I shouted, but he just grinned and jumped onto the shore. "No!" I told him, but he came forward, a towering beast of a boy and picked me up in his freezing arms. I knew we were running, but I couldn't see anything as I ducked my head into the crook of his neck. I felt the ground go out from underneath us and I realized that he had jumped. Before I had the chance to inhale any sort of air we broke the water's surface with a gigantic splash, Percy held tight to my waist and dragged me back up as I was completely disoriented.

He was laughing in my ear, "That's how you get in the water!"

"I can't believe you!" I shouted, though that was a lie. I had sort of come to expect it out of him. I splashed him and I know I shouldn't've because the most horrific grin imaginable spread like an ink stain over his mouth. This time I prepared myself as another wave of improbable size hit me square in the face, chest, and general body area. He swam towards me; I watched his powerful arms pulling his body, his legs kicking just slightly under the water with trepidation. He was dangerously graceful in the water I realized. I stepped backwards because we were still far enough on the bank that I could stand, but he just kept coming, splashing me all along the way. "Percy…" I laughed, though it was more like a warning. He stood, shoulders forward, and I'm guessing his legs were crouched because he jumped again, his arms wrapped around me as we went tumbling into deeper water. When we surfaced again I quickly clambered onto his back.

"Scared?" He asked. I don't know what this lake was normally like, but because of all the rain from the previous few days while we had been riding in the car it was really rather deep. The thing is, I wasn't scared of deep water, I was scared of cramping up and drowning _in_ deep water.

"No," I lied through my teeth and he laughed.

"Oh, good, cause if you were scared I couldn't do this," I clung tightly to him as he inhaled a deep breath, a breath so deep in fact that I'm sure he would have had air for days. My lung capacity however was minimal at best, I inhaled as much air as I could and he dove with me on his back. My initial thoughts was, ' _Oh God, we_ ' _re going to die this kid is crazy_.' And I considered letting go of him, but then a more rational part of my brain took over and reminded me that so far Percy had been a man among men. He could, apparently, do any and everything. I don't know how they raised them in Texas, but if everyone was like that down there then I believe I had been sorely misled about Texans and the entire South for that matter. May it rise again.

The further down we went the colder the water got and something told me to open my eyes. It was the same something, however, that told me that I was going to run out of air and die. Chancing it I opened my eyes, the first thing that happened was that the warmth that had been around my face drained away as if it had all been centered inside of my eyelids. The strange feeling of the water trying to invade the jelly like substance of my pupils took over next and I blinked, then everything began to come into focus. It was murky from all the mud we had kicked up, but a few feet in front of us in front of us it was clear. Percy swam that way.

The lake was beautiful, nearly free of any debris. I guess that's what happens when you're a nationally owned park. Fish swam here and there close enough for me to just reach out and touch, some of them tickled the sides of my abdomen, I could feel their fishy lips pressed against the side of my skin searching for something of edibility. When they saw that I was quite undigestable and plain they swam away. The lake floor kept going beneath us, it sank into obscure darkness after so long and Percy and I just floated there for a minute or two marveling at the beauty of nature. Everything was, of course, tinted a crystal blue—the same blue of Percy's eyes—and I smiled. Then I remembered that unlike fish I needed air to breathe.

I tapped Percy on the shoulder and indicated that we should surface. In just a few powerful kicks he was pushing us up towards the shimmering screen of water above us. When I could I sucked down a breath of air made sweet by all the pine trees around us. Mrs. O'Leary was near which let me know we were in the middle of the lake and from there I could see the delicate park all around us. There were, I discovered, animals everywhere. Moose and deer and elk stared timidly at us from the sides of the lake; some, the braver ones, dipped their heads to drink while others just watched with ever alert ears twisting this way and that. "Trying to choke me?" I realized that I was gripping onto Percy for dear life. I loosened up and he sighed, relieved. "At first it felt nice, but then you just kept squeezing, and squeezing," He laughed.

"Sorry," I said apologetically, then I laid my head in the crook of his shoulder and we floated there for a few minutes. It was romantic I'd like to think, the serenity, the atmosphere, and though the sun was hiding behind dark clouds it was rather bright outside. I felt like I should have said something deep and meaningful, profound even. Something that would—at length—bring us closer together; so I opened my mouth, "…"

"Gotta woody yet?"

"Goddamn it Percy!" I hit his shoulder and let go of him, kicking my legs furiously.

"I was just wondering!" Percy said honestly, chuckling. "I couldn't feel anything with those shorts you're wearing!" I swam away from him. "Nico, come on!" He laughed again. "I was joking, I'm sorry, come back." I wasn't going to listen to him. I was a fool to think that for just one second I could profess something to him, it was still way too early. I heard the water behind me moving and then I felt something swim underneath me. Percy popped out in front of me. Damn it he was fast. "Was it something I said?" He asked with a lopsided grin.

"You know damn well what you did," I told him, he just grabbed onto my waist and pulled me close, kissing my lips. He tasted like lake water, but on him it wasn't completely undesirable. I kissed him back as best I could while at the same time trying make it seem begrudging, I think I was getting the hang of it.

"You've got a joke for everything," I told him when we pulled back and he just smiled all the wider, content.

"I've got a one track mind, I'm sorry," He told me, holding me close. "I'm really trying hard not to talk about how there's just a pair of swim trunks between us." I buried my face in his chest. "You know, you don't help the situation when you look so cute in your big boy shorts."

"Bite me Jackson," I said. The shorts had come out of the boy's section. The _little_ boy's section. They were the only ones that would fit me. I felt his teeth sink into the side of my neck and I didn't know whether to be upset or turned on. I think I settled for a little of both. "Not literally you jackass," He gnawed at my clavicle and I had trouble staying afloat as my hand—against every mental order I sent to them—gripped his hair tightly. His arms came around my waist and I found that with both of us kicking in a strange and synchronized way we didn't go sinking to the depths below.

"You taste good," He told me as he nibbled on my ear.

I smirked, "Don't tell me you're turning into a cannibal on me," I laughed. "We've still got food in the car."

"Wouldn't be nearly as good," He happily informed me. We kissed again, a passionate, water filled kiss and I nearly lost myself in his lips. "Looks like I'm the one with the boner this time," He whispered, tickling the inside of my ear with his tongue. It poked me warmly in the leg and I felt a tingle in my own groin. "Wanna take this to the shore?"

"We can't," I told him.

"Just to make-out a little that's all, promise." He assured me with a crooked toothed smile; I just nodded my head in response. What could making-out hurt? Strangely the water didn't cool off my hormones in the least. My body had grown accustomed to the cold and it was now having the exact opposite effect on me that a cold shower was supposed to. We hurriedly swam back to the shore and Percy draped himself over me as he laid me back in the grass. He was between my legs, both of which I had foot down and bent at the knee, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. We kissed again, this time even more deeply, even more hungrily.

So I had warmed up to him _a lot_.

Percy was an irresistible kind of ideal; he was the kind of guy you thought to yourself: 'He _likes_ me? _Why_?' but then you just shrug as he sneaks another kiss and you stop caring. When he pulled back I swear I heard a thunderclap. "Wow," He grinned down at me and I just smiled back widely. This, of course, was immediately before a long tail of lightning burnt across the sky nearly blinding me. All I felt was Percy kiss me again as the hairs on my arms stood up from the sheer amount of static in the air.

It was singlehandedly the most electrifying experience of my life to date.

Another bolt ripped through the fabric of space and more thunderclaps boomed across the park. It wasn't till rain began drizzling down on our heads that I realized it was storming outside. But, in my defense, it had been raining for the past three days we had been on the road since we left Boise. What was a little rain, I wonder wrapping my legs around Percy's waist. If you have never kissed someone in the rain during a thunder storm then I can say from personal experience that you have never truly lived. I think the rain was cold, but having just gotten out of the water I couldn't really tell. I was shivering but that could have been traced back to any number of things. Percy's fingers gripped the hem of swim trunks and I bit my lip, he just grinned at me as he began to tug them down my legs, kissing my stomach all the while. I held my breath.

There was a flash, white light so bright it left behind heat behind this time. I shielded my eyes and Percy threw himself over my body as lightning struck somewhere very near us. In retrospect I suppose he was trying to save me. I could smell sulfur thickly in the air and all at once the mood was gone. Mrs. O'Leary emerged from the water, shaking her entire body the way dogs are accustomed to doing when wet and she pushed her nose into Percy's back hurriedly. "Aroof!" She bellowed.

"I agree with her," I said, there were still white blotches dancing in front of my vision. Percy had the gall to sigh heavily, then he nodded and grabbed my hand. We took off for the car running and laughing as the sky's pouring turned into the expression 'raining cats and dogs.' We found ourselves quite drenched. Percy opened the back door for Mrs. O'Leary and quickly pulled on a pair of pants, funnily enough I found myself not staring at him for once. Instead my eyes were transfixed on the skies above; giant black cumulous clouds were rolling around in the sky dangerously. They were swirling, undulating and gyrating masses roaming and roving over one another and they were doing things that clouds normally did not do. I was awed by the sheer force of the wind as it ripped around us causing the loudest ruckus of _whooshing_ I had ever heard. The trees bowed, leaves sailing through the air and I felt my swim trunks flap wildly about at the knees.

It had snuck up so suddenly on us, or I thought, perhaps it hadn't. Percy and I had both been aware of the weather; the plan was to swim till it didn't look safe to be outside anymore. Well, it didn't look safe to be outside anymore. The rain started pelting us harder, but as I stood there something felt off about it. It was hard and cold and the sound of it pinging off the windshield was as if someone was throwing pebbles at us.

"Oh, great," Percy said ironically. "Hail,"

"Hey, Perce," I asked, looking off into the not-too-distant distance.

"What's up?" Percy called, pushing himself into the truck after he made sure everything was strapped down and situated. I pointed.

"Is, uh, is that supposed to be funneling like that?" The mass of black clouds had come together in a windy, blinding fury. Slowly but surely they were weaving together indivisibly, halfway to the ground. I noticed that the air had become suddenly unmanageably hot and I was thankful that I had been freezing before.

"Nico! Get in the car!" Percy shouted in a way I had never heard before, but I was rooted to the spot. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the oncoming danger be it for fear or from awe I wasn't sure yet. "Nico!" It touched down and for a long moment I was captivated, unmoving, and just plain stuck. Wind has, you find out, unimaginable power. What might be a nice breeze turns out to be a gale force hurricane, or maybe you're stuck out at sea and by some luck your sails are suddenly filled. It was a two-way street. But, this time it was the other, not so nice kind. The kind that rips deeply rooted trees out of the ground as if they were toothpicks, old and gnarled giant oaks that seem to all intents and purposes to have become permanent things instead become things of the past. It moves in a hypnotic sort of dance, its body a black gale of franticness as it twists this way and then that, almost like a King Cobra as it paralyzes its prey for the kill.

I was the helpless prey and this twister the King Cobra.

Something solid crashed into my abdomen and suddenly I was in the air, for one scary moment I thought the wind had taken me but slow realization allowed me to see that Percy had slung me over his shoulder and was throwing us into the truck on his side. He had moved so quickly. I found myself seated in his lap as he slammed the car door closed, but I was still watching the oncoming tornado from the passenger's side door, which was still open. "Come on!" Percy shouted at the truck as it stalled out, the Gods of Fate smirked down deviously at us from above. The truck shook. "Come on goddamn it!" Percy screamed nearly flooding the engine, then, in one glorious and holy noise, the car came to life. The front of the truck was pulled forward by the gale still coming at us, he threw it in reverse and in a dramatic move we were travelling backwards as fast as we could.

Whipping the truck around Percy got control again and the wheel spun out, sending a trail of dust into the air we were, then barreling down a dirt road. The passenger's door slammed shut and all I could do was watch the swirling death as it came up behind us. Lightning struck a tree somewhere and almost immediately fire rose into the sky, thick black plumes of smoke rolling into the air. The truck was still shaking violently as we pulled away, Percy was flooring it. Mrs. O'Leary whined in the back and still Tyson only slept. But these were things I noticed when watching the twister became too much for me; when just about everything was much too much for me. We drove, and somehow Percy had found the main road again.

We drove and we drove till the twister was just a thing on the horizon and then we drove some more. We drove until we saw a sign for the next city, we drove until we were in the next city; we drove until the truck decided that it was out of gas halfway through that city and then we broke down. Percy put it futilely in park and he looked around. If the truck wasn't even on anymore, I wondered to myself, then why was it still shaking so damned much? There was a warm and sweaty hand on my back suddenly. "Shh," Percy cooed in my ear, but I had no idea why. Mrs. O'Leary's whining began to sound more like someone crying, or better yet someone sobbing their heart out. I took a breath and she stopped, then when I was able to breathe again it started once more. "Nico, shh." Percy said holding me close.

"What're you talking about?" I asked, but my voice was babble, it was incoherent and undecipherable. I felt my face and when I pulled my fingers back I found that my cheeks were soaked in tears. It occurred to me that the crying and whining was coming from me. My heart was pounding in my chest, thudding so quickly I was afraid it would break one of my ribs. _Thudthudthudthudthudthud_ there was no reprieve. It was then that I realized the truck wasn't shaking either, my whole body was shivers and tremors and I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering. I was scared. No, I was frightened beyond all belief. The sheer power and magnitude of something like that just seemed unreal and yet I had watched it. We had almost been killed thanks to me and my leaden feet.

We sat like that for a few more minutes until I found the smallest amount of control over myself again, I wiped at my eyes to no avail as the tears just would not stop. Percy kissed the top of my head and rocked me back and forth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I heard myself saying, at first I didn't know why I was apologizing but it just felt like I was supposed to be. "I'm so sorry." I held onto him as tightly as he held onto me.

"It's not your fault," Percy told me, dotting my face with his lips. "Nothing is your fault." He said again, and it was then that I understood why Percy had been so afraid I would leave the other week. The thought of being alone at that moment was even scarier than the tornado had been. I wondered what kinds of horrors he had seen. My tremor filled cries calmed down considerably after that. Percy was here, everything was fine. "You okay?" He asked.

"I will be," I half lied, I wasn't sure if I was going to be okay at all but he made it the slightest bit better. I sank into his warmth, and his rocking, and his cooing. It was another ten minutes before I unclenched my grip from around him.

"We're not out of the woods just yet," Percy told me. "We need to get underground for the night." He had apparently planned ahead for this sort of thing. He opened the door and let me step out first then he came out behind me. "Shit," He said disparagingly as he looked through the back of the truck. "I spilt most of the gas in this thing," He held up a gallon tank he must have gotten from the last gas station we went to, it was half empty. "There's no guarantee that the pumps around here'll work. We've been lucky up till this point,"

"I wouldn't even know where a gas station was to begin with," I looked around. It was just a city, tall buildings and winding streets decorated with cars. But, as I looked around my eyes drifted upward. The sky was gray, indicating that what we had just seen was on its way, I looked down the street and saw that it was even raining a bit just up the road. Unconsciously I stepped closer to Percy, taking hold of his shirt.

"Grab what you can, we'll come back for the rest when we can," Percy hadn't seemed to notice my sudden need to be closer to him as he grabbed our cooler and shouldered one of the bags with clothes in it. I let go of him and nodded shouldering the other two bags out of the backseat. I grabbed the cat and whistled for the dog and soon we were walking.

"Hey, about back there," I said, he looked over at me and I expected him to smile, but he looked serious. "Sorry, again."

"It's alright, you froze up. It can happen to anyone," He said reassuringly.

"You saved my life." I replied gratefully. "Again." He shook his head.

"I couldn't just let you get killed, I like having you around way too much for that," I took his hand and tried a grin, but still his own expression was stoic. I stopped. I realized I needed to see his smile. "What?" He asked.

"Are you angry or something?" I asked, happy just to be near him. "Usually I can't stop you from grinning like an idiot." He attempted one but it fell short of the brilliance I had come to know.

"I was worried about you," He said. "now I'm just tired, that's all." We walked for a long while around the city holding hands and a small drizzle found us. Finally, after a while we found ourselves standing outside of a hospital. "There should be a basement here."

"A-are you sure?" I asked, looking at the dark and foreboding hospital. My nerves were still frayed admittedly, my heart had not stopped pounding completely as of yet.

"Unless you prefer to stay out here with that storm on its way?" He replied with a small shadowy smile. "I'll protect you." I don't know why but that made me feel better. He squeezed my hand and I think I must have looked like I needed to be kissed because he touched his lips to my cheek. I was quite reassured. We entered into the hospital; the air still stank like disinfectant and antiseptic and was a bit stale. "I'll go check and see if there's a cellar, you can stay here if you want?" I don't know what my expression was, terrified maybe, or out of my depth, or lost, or maybe all the above, I really couldn't say, but it had him leaning in and kissing my lips sweetly.

"I'll stay here," I told him; there was still some light up here. I didn't know what I would expect down in the basement. Percy sat the cooler down on the floor and reached into the bag on his shoulder, he pulled out his gun and popped the clip out. He must have found everything in order because then he pumped it back in and cocked it.

"Be back," He said and I squeezed his hand before he went. I watched him go and all I could do was sit down in the lobby and hold Mrs. O'Leary's head in my lap while scratching her behind the ears. She looked after him as well, whining. Thankfully this time I knew it was her and not me. Her whining became pitiful as she tried to pull away from me.

"Do you want to go with him?" I asked and her tail wagged. "I—I do too." I bit my lip and stood. "We can't just sit here anyway," I said more to myself than to her or to Tyson who was on my shoulders now. "Percy, wait up!" I put our stuff down and ran behind him, barefoot. When I caught up he was smirking down at me and I just grabbed his hand again.

"Miss me?"

"If something happens to you I just want to take your last will and testament is all," I said trying to sound nonchalant as I leaned my head against his naked shoulder. We were, I realized with a cold chill, still quite shirtless, though Tyson's purring body warmed my neck.

"Did you bring the flashlight?" He asked.

"No," I said. "Should I go back for it?" He shook his head and pulled a lighter out of his jeans pocket. "What's that for?"

"Lighting things." He replied, I rolled my eyes.

"Do you smoke?"

"I used to," He said absently, looking around. "Still do when I can,"

"You know that causes cancer, right?" I found myself informing him. Who was I the Surgeon General? Maybe it was because I was in a hospital that I felt he should be informed of the dangers of nicotine and smoke inhalation. Or, maybe I just wanted him around for as long as he naturally could be.

"Not what I smoke." He said and left it at that, I would have pushed that there wasn't any kind of cigarette that didn't cause cancer, but the subject seemed to be suddenly dead. We were walking down a long corridor with a lighter that had a five inch flame when he exclaimed, "There it is," Pointing he indicated to me a door, a sign was slapped on the wall that indicated that there were steep stairs on the other side. He opened it and there were indeed carpeted stairs staring back at us, it looked rather dark as they led down into the unknown.

"You're still sure about this?" I asked and he nodded holding his lighter out further and up higher. The flame didn't do much but throw around dark shadows but we took the steps, going doing them. Percy had his hand along the wall, I was guessing it was for support but his fingers must have hit something because the next thing I knew a dim, eco-saver light came on above our heads.

"Hospital's back-up generator still works," He told me. I just nodded pretending to care. We ventured further down the stairs. "It's just like I thought," He said. "A storm cellar." I looked around; there was a fleet of beds on the floor that must have been for the sick and elderly in the event of a tornado or other disaster, natural or not. Against the wall there were shelves with canned rations of food and blankets. Percy went over to the corner of the bunker that didn't have any windows and he pulled something out. "Help me with this," He instructed, I tagged along behind him and saw that it was a heater of some sort. We picked it up together and settled it in the middle of the room. He smelled his fingers. "Kerosene," He said.

"What's that mean?"

"It's a type of gas," He said. "Not the kind we need though. This place'll be okay for us to wait out of the storm, let's go get our stuff." We did, Percy poured the last of our gas into the truck and drove it down to the hospital where we loaded everything we had brought with us into the hospital. I tried not to look at the sky, but it was now an ominous black; somewhere in the air I heard thunder, and before I made it back inside it started to rain. When we were safely down the stairs again Percy stripped off his jeans.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"Getting out of my these wet clothes, you need to too or you'll catch a cold." He picked up one of the bags and pulled out a pair of underwear. Examining the size he threw them to me. Even in the danger of an imminent tornado I was self conscious though as I held the whitey-tighties in my hands.

"Don't look." He chuckled.

"I've seen it, Nico," He said glancing over his shoulder but I glared at him. He just chuckled again and shook his head, at last he turned away shimming a pair of boxer shorts over his legs. Then, quickly, he found a pair of pajamas I hadn't known we had. I turned around and rolled the still soaked shorts off my legs, stepping out of them it occurred to me that I had never been this naked so many times around anyone but myself, Percy had just sort of become someone my clothes came off in front of. With that thought I even more quickly pushed my legs through the holes of the underwear and when I turned I found he was seated on one of the beds with a smile on his face staring at me. I felt my face burn, a feeling I was used to by now.

"I said not to look,"

"That would've made you a hypocrite," He countered and held his hand out, in it was another pair of pajamas, these were stripped. I went over to him and took them out of his hand, which left him free to grab me around my waist. Well, his hands were a bit below my waist and quite decidedly settled on my ass, he rested his head on my stomach. "You were going to let me take your shorts off back at the lake," He said looking up at me and smiling, his eyes sparkling.

"Was not," I returned, trying to step into the pajamas. "Percy, what the hell, these are footy pajamas?"

"I thought it'd be cute, they go with your big boy shorts." I tried to push him away but his hands were groping me now. "Put them on, they'll warm you up."

"I think I'll just sleep in front of the heater." I told him. He grinned and lifted me off the ground, putting me in his lap for the second time that day. I didn't fight him, I didn't have any fight left in me, and he pulled my legs into the pants of the jammies, turns out it was one long zippable suit. Thankfully my arms were too long for the sleeves, that made me feel the least bit better, but otherwise it fit nicely. The damn thing wasn't even snug. "I'm a midget," I decided.

"Don't pout. You're not a midget," He said. "The preferred term is little person."

"I'm a little person, then," I said dejectedly.

"Well, yeah," He grinned pulling me close and zipping the front of the pajamas. "But not the same kind of little person as you're thinking." I stared at him and was happy to see his smile was genuine again; I snuggled into his chest, ignoring the fact that my feet just barely touched the ground while I sat on him. Percy yawned. "We should get some sleep soon," He told me.

"I don't think I can sleep tonight," I said, images of trees the size of monoliths flying through the air played in my head. For a moment he looked as if he were thinking, then something flashed in his eyes.

"I've got an idea," He sat me down to the side and pulled up the cooler. Opening it he produced a bottle. "Remember that wine I was talking about?"

"I'm not much of a drinker," By that I meant that I had never partaken in alcohol.

"It's to help you sleep," He said with a smile on his face.

"You mean to help you take advantage of me," I said. "Don't you have some sleeping pills or something in there?" He sat the bottle down on the ground and made an effort to seem as if he were looking for my desired item.

"Nope," He said decidedly. "Nope, I don't see any sleeping pills. I could always run to the pharmacy and get your prescription filled?" I shoved him and he nearly went off the twin sized bed.

"Jackass," Thunder rolled outside, I jumped at the suddenness of it. "Fine, whatever open the damn bottle."

"I'm not going to take advantage of you," He said, pulling out the cork with the little curlicue corkscrew. Well, of course he had one of those but an Ambien? Too hard to carry.

"Yeah, and my ass isn't going to be sore in the morning," I said.

"Not unless you hurt yourself," Percy laughed, "I'm quite the gentlemen around the unsober," He grinned. "Sleep, that's what this is for." He popped the cork out and handed the bottle to me. Hesitantly I sniffed. It smelled like tangy grapes. "Really we're supposed to hold it upside down for about an hour and a half and then let it air for thirty minutes but—" The lights flickered and the hospital rattled. I hurriedly grabbed the bottle out of his hands and took a heavy swig. It wasn't like any grape juice I had ever tasted; it was sweeter and tangier at the same time. It was, I decided, not the worst thing I had ever had to drink. It was…really good. Percy smiled and took the bottle, sipping it and handing it back. "You should probably slow—" I had it tipped back before he could say anything else, drinking big, deep gulps. "Well, it's your party." Percy laughed.

"What's that mean?" I asked, but my head began to swim. I swooned, tipping the thing back again, and then I smiled. I took one last sip and found that the bottle had somehow become halfway empty in the three minutes that Percy had opened it.

"Here," Percy grabbed it from me, "I'll drink it for a little while. Feel better?" He nursed it down; I wasn't sure how he wasn't gulping it. Wine was delicious. Why didn't people drink wine with everything? I licked my lips and nodded my head.

"I'm warm," I said, smiling from ear to ear. It was true; warmth had worked a vein of networks down through my chest and into my stomach. My fingertips tingled as I traced them over Percy's lips. "Your mouth is really red," I told him, it suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world.

"Yup," He grinned. "That's more than enough for you." Percy took one last drink and corked it.

"Why…why're you doing that?" I asked, everything felt so nice. He put the bottle back into the cooler and stood up. "Percy! Percy where are you going?" He chuckled and patted me on the head.

"To get us some of those blankets," He said. "and to turn off the overhead light so we can get some sleep," He walked down the long row of other beds, maybe twenty-five—thirty steps away, till he came to the shelves with cans and flashlights and blankets on it. He grabbed a few; while he was doing that I was trying to maneuver the cork out of the wine with my bare hands.

"Why isn't this working?" I asked, screwing my fingers around the neck of the bottle. In my mind it was that simple, the cork should have just popped out.

"Nico…" Percy laughed, throwing those blankets on the bed. He took the bottle from me and again placed it in the cooler, then he walked a ways up the stairs and turned the light off. There was another clap of thunder and I grew scared, more irrationally afraid than I had been moments before.

"Percy!"

"I'm right here," His arms wrapped around me, it was so dark however that I had no idea how he had found me. I laughed—giggled and I kissed whatever I could on him. I think it was his nose. He brought us to the top of the bed and stretched blankets over us. I kissed him again, this time it was his mouth. He tasted like wine. I darted my tongue inside of his mouth, searching for more of that taste. He pushed me back, "Nico, try to get some sleep, okay, buddy?"

"Percy," I said again. "I think I'm drunk."

"As do I," Percy snickered. "I didn't think you'd inhale half the bottle."

"Percy," I said again. "Percy, Percy, Percy, Purse-ee, Purse-Purse, Perce," I smiled to myself and he kissed the top of my head. Something occurred to me, "I love you."

"That's nice," Percy said, holding me close. He sounded tired.

"No! Not "that's nice" say you love me too." Maybe I was being a bit belligerent, I don't know.

"You don't mean it just yet," Percy told me, I climbed on top of him.

"I can make you love me," I grinned, but it was lost in the darkness. I leaned forward and kissed him again, long and hard on the lips. I found his arms and put them around my waist, placing them on my ass like I remembered him having them there early, he didn't take hold. "Come on Percy, say it." I whined, silently unzipping the front of the pajamas he had worked to put me in.

"Nico," He grabbed me by the waist and discovered that he was touching skin. "Nico, get off of me and lay down."

"Why?" I asked lying on his chest. "I'm comfortable right—" I hiccupped. "here." Percy sighed and held onto me again.

"Do you promise to go to sleep?" He asked.

"If you say you love me," I fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, when it wouldn't come undone I ripped it off, kissing his chest. "You have such a nice body." I said, attempting to rip more buttons, his hand grasped both of mine easily.

"I love you, Nico," He said and I grinned, kissing his neck, then his chin, then his mouth. "Now sleep." I stretched, and grabbed onto him, then I closed my eyes. I heard him grumble something that sounded suspiciously like, "Who took advantage of who?" But soon I passed out, thunderclaps and all.


	7. Chapter 7

**NOTE: POSTED WITH PERMISSION**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Seven:** Exchange

I woke up to a dull pounding in my ear. _Thud thud, thud thud_ , it said softly but it echoed around the space between my ears as if magnified through a loudspeaker. The sound, I found upon grasping with my fingers, was Percy's heartbeat. I had his two pectorals cupped under my hands. I was laying on his nearly bare chest and his legs were wrapped around mine. The first thing that passed through my mind was, ' _Oh, God_ , _we didn_ ' _t…?_ ' My head was pounding, hammering with every thud of Percy's heart.

Upon further examination I found that my entire upper body was unclothed. What happened? I remembered gulping down mouthfuls of wine like they were breaths of air, and then after that everything started to blur into red-white fuzz in the back of my head.

My mouth tasted bad. A mixture of morning breath and alcohol, I grunted as I hefted myself off of Percy's warm, inviting chest and held my head in my hands. "Ugh…" I wished the world would have stopped spinning. It was so dark. I tried to open my eyes only to find that they were, in fact, already open making my disorientation that much scarier. "Percy," I groaned. He said something that sounded suspiciously like, "No sex, Nico," and I wasn't sure what he meant by it but I pushed it aside. "Percy," I said again, louder.

"Uh…" He yawned widely, waking, "What's up?"

"Did we do it?" I asked flat out, something in my system made me sway on his lap from side-to-side involuntarily as if I were going to fall over. I gripped onto his sides for support. He chuckled in a deep, sleepy voice and scooted over allowing me to lay down on the bed. I didn't like that chuckle. "Percy?"

"No," He said quietly. "but you were very insistent that we should, I can't ever remember having balls this blue." I asked him to quickly explain that particular joke and when he did I couldn't find the strength to apologize heartily enough. Blue balls, as you may well know, is the occurrence of residual build up in a guy's testes from…well, Percy called it teasing. He also said it less eloquently.

"Sorry…" I apologized; he patted my butt several times, rubbing the thing as if he owned it.

"S'okay," He laughed. "Took everything I had to keep my promise of not taking advantage of you though, you were _very_ insistent. You ripped my shirt open," I looked and sure enough one of the buttons was missing.

"Sorry." I said again.

"Also, I have a nice body, apparently." I groaned once more. "Thank you for that by the way, yours ain't too bad itself," He laughed. Not only did my head hurt but I had the distinct feeling in the back of my throat that I might vomit soon.

"Did the sun burn out?" I asked, wondering aloud about how dark it was.

"There're no windows in a storm cellar," Percy told me. "And I turned off all the lights." He was still rubbing by ass.

"Having fun?"

"Mm-hm, it's better when you're conscious of the fact that I'm doing it than when you're not yourself and you're trying to force it to happen," I didn't say anything, he just continued to grope around, I'll admit that it didn't feel bad.

"My head hurts," I said after a few more minutes of his massaging.

"Poor baby," Percy kissed the top of my crown.

"Don't patronize me," He laughed, and I felt him roll on top of me. I was close to heaving as it was, but now with the added weight I suddenly felt even worse.

"You know now that you're awake if you're up for it we can still—?"

"Percy, I'm gonna hurl," I informed him very quickly.

"A simple no would have sufficed," He replied. "Didn't have to hurt my feelings…"

"No," I said. "I'm seriously going to throw up everywhere, move!"

"Oh…oh!" He jumped off of me with an unseen athleticism and I leaned over the bed letting the sudden sick fall out of my mouth in large liquid quantities. My stomach clenched and I heaved again, breathing in through my nose. It smelled putrid. The lights above came on and for the final time I barfed. It was a very, very red vomit with a froth around the sides that made it look like some kind of disgusting grape juice. Small chunks of my dinner from the other night floated around listlessly, I didn't remember eating some of the things that were in it. "Damn." Percy commented, coming down the steps after having just flipped the light switch. "Well, you almost drank the whole bottle last night; should've known that would happen."

"Shut…up." I breathed; I must have looked like hell. I damn sure felt like it. Not long afterwards Percy found me a clean clothe to wipe my face with, then he began moved all of our things back into the truck and left poor little me down in the storm cellar by my lonesome. Well, I suppose I had the animals. There was a lapping sound and I turned to the spot I'd just upchucked, "Oh, no, Mrs. O'Leary don't lick it up, gross!" Okay, so the animals were out. I pulled my knees up to my chest and realized that I was still in those damned footie pajamas. Percy came bounding back down the stairs with a smile on his face. "I can't believe you put me in these," I said looking down at them.

"They're cute," Percy grinned. "Well, they was you got a little…uh, some spit-up on you right there," He pointed to a spot on his own chest and I looked down. Sure enough I had gotten a bit of sick on me. "But, I mean come on. Who doesn't like pajamas with feet in them?"

"You obviously," I said motioning to his own sleepwear.

"Well, I'm an adult, Nico," Percy laughed, I chucked the pillow at him and he just laughed harder. "Here," He threw something to me, it froze my fingers. "Cold compress, hold it against your head. It'll make you feel better," I thanked him but he shrugged, "I hate to say it but you need a shower,"

"You think?" I glared at him.

"They've got spare rooms around here, we'll check around to see if any of the water works, after that we'll pick our next destination."

"Percy," I held the compress against my face. "what's the point of this road-trip, huh?" I needed to know, frankly it had been something that had plagued me since we began. I might not have asked if I felt better but the light was stabbing through my eyes like knives and I was admittedly a bit grumpy; especially since I had just emptied the contents of my stomach all over the floor, leaving my throat feeling raw and my head throbbing.

"The point? Bonding, I would guess" Percy maneuvered around the stinking pile on the ground that Mrs. O'Leary was still going to town on and took a seat on the bed. "We'll have to clean that up soon before she does," He said absently, "But, we're getting to know each other, right? Spending time together," He patted my knee, running his hand up to my thigh. "Breaking boundaries," He grinned mischievously.

"Should've just broken 'em last night," I sighed a grumble. His face became serious, and I looked away from him. "It would have been easier, you wouldn't have had to try at all," He grabbed my hand.

"When you and I get together like that— _IF_ we ever do, we don't have to—I'd prefer you weren't blitzed out of your mind," Percy said somberly. "Do you just want to go straight to Camp Halfblood, is that it?"

"You've got to be getting tired of my company by now," My head was still hurting, the compress was helping but it wasn't doing much. "I just don't want you wasting your efforts if I'm never…never ready for _that_." I grabbed his hand from my thigh. "It's not fair to you," I shrugged my shoulders. "You're just going to get annoyed with me; I'm starting to rely on you for too much. You didn't pick me up so you could shoot stuff and speed away from tornadoes all because I'm too stupid to get away." I turned my eyes back to him for just a minute, "If I'm getting on my own nerves then I _know_ I'm getting on yours," My voice cracked when I spoke again, "I almost got you killed."

He smiled, he seriously smiled at that, "Nico, is that all you're worried about?"

"It's a lot to be worried about, Percy!" I shouted, which wasn't a good idea. Pain shot through my head and into my teeth, I squeezed my eyes shut. "Let's just get to Camp Halfblood so people who deserve having someone like you around can," It was quiet for a minute.

Then, "Do you think I would get this close to you just to dump you?" He asked, I looked up. "You wanna know why we're on this road-trip, Nico? We're doing this for you. The minute I met you I thought you were the kind of kid who never got out much, and now I want you to see other stuff that's out there, stuff that's not in your backyard. I want you to see it with me, because we're both alone, because we get along, because I like you damn it. I didn't fuck you last night because I respect you, Nico. I will only ever do what you let me, all you ever have to do is say no. Just whisper it. Shake your head, and I'll back off. You know that. We've been together for less than two weeks, so what? I care about you," He shrugged. "I don't know how long it takes to know how you really feel about someone. Hell, it took me a year and a half to tell Annabeth I liked her and that we should go out, you know what she said to me?" He asked rhetorically. "She said she thought we already were going out," He smiled. "I don't want to go a year and a half with you without you knowing every new feeling for you I get. At first I thought you were just a cute kid who could tag along with me for a while, then we started talking for hours—"

"You made sure of that," I interjected, fighting a small smile, he had a way of making me feel better.

"Because you're so interesting, Nico. Your views, the way you travelled before we met, the fact that for Summers you just hopped on a plane and went to Italy. No one just _goes_ to Italy, Nico." He grabbed my hands. "I'm watching your back and you're watching mine. The only way I'll get tired of your company is if you get drunk and confess that you love me and then badger me about it until I say it back to you," He laughed at the look on my face. "I know you don't, not really. You're a hard man to read, Nico di Angelo, but I'm having fun trying. I'm having fun with _you_. I want to have at least one good friend with me before we get to the camp, if not more than a friend."

I didn't know what to say so I shrugged; my own heartbeat was pounding in my ears, and I felt my eyes prickle. I looked away from Percy again. "I'm not that interesting," I finally decided. He squeezed my hands and I sighed, "So I can't get rid of you that easily, huh?"

"Not if you had a sidewalk scraper and I was a piece of gum," He grinned contagiously. "Now enough weeping and pouting, I don't want to hear any more negative talk on this trip. If you're going to say anything negative at all complain about how when we get to the Camp we'll have to wear clothes all the time."

"How will you survive, you nudist?" I smiled painfully and he squeezed my hand again.

"I'll try if you're there," He smiled, and then he stood. "Anyways, you're not feeling well, you want to stay here for a couple more hours?"

"It doesn't matter," I said, "everything'll hurt either way." He chuckled.

"Lay back down," He said. "I'll be back, gonna go look for so more supplies," I threw the blankets over my legs.

"I can go," I quickly informed him.

"You can lay back down is what you can do," Percy pushed me down onto the bed and kissed the top of my head again. "Don't push it, you've got a hangover and those sure as sin ain't any fun," I crossed my arms and stared up at him as he tucked the blankets around the bed.

"I'm not the first person in the world to have a hangover, Percy,"

"You don't know that," He grinned. "Not a lot of us people left nowadays, you could be. Sleep, I'll be back in like an hour,"

"An hour? It's not going to take an hour for you to look around the hospital for supplies," He turned around, crouched in front of the bed he pulled out some clothes from our steadily helpful duffle bag.

"Not just checking the hospital, I'm checking the city too, just around a few blocks. I need to see if there's any petrol around or if we need to highjack another car." His eyes glanced at me over his shoulder. "I'm picking a nice one if I have to hotwire something,"

"I don't like the idea of you going out there alone," I sat up.

"Who says I'm going alone?" Percy started changing clothes. "I'm taking Mrs. O'Leary if you don't mind?" At the mention of her name the brute stood and pranced over to him like a show dog, she jumped up on his chest, paws on his shoulders and barked once. He laughed, I shook my head.

"You stole my dog, Percy,"

"She still loves you more than me," He smirked. "I bet if she thought I was hurting you she would try to eat me."

"Hardly," I glared at Mrs. O'Leary who cast me her most pitiful look with literal puppy dog eyes. "I should have named you Benedict Arnold," I watched Percy undress appreciatively; if I were Mrs. O'Leary I might follow behind his heels too. Well, okay, I already did that.

"You look jealous," Percy laughed. "Do you want your belly rubbed, Nico? Do you, boy?" He stood over me and rubbed my stomach. "Who's a good boy, Nico? Who's a pretty boy?" I couldn't stop laughing, not because he was funny but because he was tickling me.

"I swear to God I'll hurt you!" It didn't sound very threatening. He climbed on top of me, his fingers gripping my sensitive sides. Even through the sheets I couldn't help but laughing wildly. "Percy! I ache, please, I give, I give!" He leaned forward as if he were going to kiss me, but he made a face and pulled back with second thoughts.

"Listerine," He said. "Gotta get you some Listerine while I'm out," I hit him, it was all I could do, then I pulled the blankets over the bottom of my face and sunk into the sheets.

"Get out," I growled. "Both of you, traitorous dogs,"

Mrs. O'Leary barked once and Percy laughed again, "I think we're offended."

"Good," I said laying on my side, turning away from both of them.

"Meow," I couldn't get away from them, they were everywhere. Tyson was lying beside my head; he had surreptitiously climbed up on the bed when I had been distracted by my vomiting. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. He mewled pathetically; he didn't try to scratch at me or anything.

"He's declawed," I said, grabbing his paw and pressing it between my thumb and forefinger gently.

"He's a housecat, I found him," Percy told me. "Get to know Tyson, too. We'll be back," Then he and the dog were heading up the stairs. "Lights on or off?"

"On, I guess," I shrugged, then the door opened and closed again. I sighed and looked at the cat in my arms. "It's just you and me now, Ty." He meowed. "You're right, that nickname just doesn't work for you." Sitting him down I laid by head back on the pillow, I felt small paws walking over my chest, he settled and began purring. Had I really told Percy that I loved him? That was very unlike me, I loved very few people: my mom, my sister, my dad and my grandparents. Outside of that small circle there was tolerance, and then if anyone sat on the outermost of my conscience periphery I just sort of ignored them. Tyson must have needed me to pet him because he pushed his head under my hands. I obliged him. "Love?"

What did love feel like? I had heard so many similes in movies and read so many metaphors in books, but what was love, _really_? When do you go from liking to loving and how do you know? Was it because Percy made my head foggy and my blood flow quickly change directions? Was it because I felt so connected to him; he had saved my life twice so far. I don't think I was in love with Percy. I was very much in like with him, I _really_ liked being around him even when he was being a jerk. But, love? That was a bit much for my mind to comprehend. I'm not sure I even knew what love was. I knew in theory what it was, but in practice it was a completely different story.

I was disconnected. There were people with whom I had taken up much adoration before, guys passing in the halls, kids in class, boys in the locker-room. But I had never had more than a passing feeling that bordered lust, and with Percy it was so much more than that. I…of course I had thought about it. Wondered what it would feel like if Percy and I were together, but then I felt guilty. I couldn't imagine Percy, not like that, not while I still had my doubts about how far we were really going to go. I believed him, he wouldn't leave me but all I knew about him was that he liked me and respected me.

Maybe I was just being frigid.

I think, maybe, I was afraid of intimacy. He had so much more experience than I did, I was just getting to the point where I didn't completely suck at kissing and that was only from pure speculation on my part. Or, a more rational part of my brain told me—the part that wasn't sending daggers throughout my cerebral system—maybe I really just wasn't ready. For love or for sex. It was part of the human condition to believe that every little thing in life needed a reason, part of our greater being seeking guidance. Why? That was a question that had baffled hundreds of thousands of the world's most renowned scholars.

If it happened it would happen when I felt it should happen, not a minute before and not a minute afterwards. I would have to stay away from alcohol of all forms till then. My eyes were closed, I noticed. I was slowly slipping into a very sweet sleep. I wondered what Percy was doing, I wondered when he would be back. I turned and wrinkled my nose, I wondered when I would be feel better so I could clean the rest of the puke off the floor. I turned on my other side and sighed, it wasn't contentedly but it wasn't despairingly either. It was just a sigh.

I felt, well, I felt just awful. Physically and about putting Percy through what I had put him through so far. I had to start being a productive member of Team Percy and Nico, Team…Percico. No, ew, no. I couldn't put our names together. The next thing I knew I'd be ordering monogrammed handkerchiefs and calling ties cravats. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it just wasn't me. But, temporary insanity aside, I had to start doing my part. Up till now I had been a burden, up till now everything that had happened to us had fallen upon Percy's shoulders to handle.

Well, from henceforth he would be sharing that load.

My stomach lurched and I leaned over the side of the bed again, I didn't think there was anything _left_ in my stomach let alone the outrageous amount of sick that actually was. Alright, after I was over my hangover _then_ , then I would help.

I was dreaming. I had to be, there was no other explanation as to why I was walking through my old school's hallowed hallways. This was, to my benefit, not one of those dreams where I was at school in my underwear, however, being there I felt as small as an ant in a jungle of tall, tall trees. Even with the knowledge of that fact that I was dreaming I shouldered my bag and slumped myself forward trying to look as if I didn't care about the world around me. I was wearing my dad's leather Aviator's jacket and walking with my old green and white TOMs.

The people around me, old schoolmates, were all staring. I recognized some of the faces, others I think I might have only ever seen in passing. Their staring, however, was closer to being venomous than to being amused. I kept going, I had a class to get to. Which class I couldn't recall, but I knew I was running late. A hand shoved me, a faceless student bumped into my shoulder, another flat out pushed me. "Watch it," I found myself growling the way I used to, aggressively and without any hint of having ever been merciful in my life. It didn't work, someone else threw their elbow into my ribcage and I tripped over a large pair of feet that weren't my own. There was a boot that scuffed the side of my cheek and another that blatantly kicked me in the abdomen. I tried to get up but my fingers were stepped on. I shouted out, but no one seemed to care.

People were gathered around me now, teachers, students, janitors, even the lunch lady. Everyone set to punching and kicking me as if it were a game to be played. I closed my eyes as the brutality began to escalate, the sounds of fists and shoes as they impacted drowned out my cries for them to stop in my ears.

Then, I felt a hand grasp my wrist. It yanked me off the floor and onto my feet, and then we were running. I knew who it was before the door to the classroom we ducked into closed. Dream-Percy smiled at me, my savior, if you can believe it. Of course I was dreaming about Percy, it didn't take a psychiatrist to see what the dream meant. " _Hi_ ," He said amiably.

I woke up.

The light above didn't hurt my eyes so much anymore, there was a very dull buzz behind my eyes, and my stomach clenched minutely, but other than that I was okay. I sat up, "Mew," the damn cat was on my chest again.

"Move, Tyson," I said pushing him to the side of the bed. Looking around I realized that Percy wasn't back yet. There was no way to tell whether an hour or a day had passed down in that storm cellar. I got out of bed feeling lighter than I had however long ago it was when I had gone to sleep. Slowly I walked up the stairs; opening the door I saw that the sun was high in the sky. It was afternoon though I hadn't gotten good enough to read the time exactly I could tell it was somewhere between one and four-ish. I closed the door behind me so Tyson wouldn't escape and wander the halls; then I walked to the lobby.

Outside it was bright, sunny, blue skies and fluffy white clouds. It was as if the night's storm had never happened and I disliked that. There were branches scattered all over the streets, roof shingles, lawn ornaments, there was even a kid's tricycle, but our truck was fine. A little dented, the paint was a little scratched, but otherwise I'm sure it was okay. I looked in the back of it and found that there were two galleon tanks both filled to the brim with gasoline. I felt the hood of the truck, it was warm. Percy had been out and about.

Turning I headed back into the hospital sure that he must have come back in and went to look around inside for more supplies like he had said. I looked down one hallway, then the next, images of my dream coming back to me. Everyone had been wearing the most hateful expressions as if my very existence offended them.

I shivered. _At least it wasn't been another dream about my family_ , I thought.

Walking down the long halls I heard something; it was the sound of static, a radio changing stations. I followed the sound. It was most likely Percy, but of course my mind took me to all the different possibilities that I was on my way to the morgue. The entire time I had been in this hospital there had not been one dead body. Of course, being a hospital I would think that they had a bit more couth about that sort of thing even till the very end but still. I don't know what was more eerie, thoughts of the dead, or thoughts of what the dead might be doing. What if something, or what had once been someone, was lurking for me around the next corner? My heart was racing and I felt my palms start sweating, Fight or Flight tried to kick into my body but I was still going forward. Every alarm in my head said to turn around, that there was only danger for me her, but I didn't listen. It was then that I was standing outside a patient's room, room 126 to be exact. I pulled back the silvery handle from the door and opened it.

Static, station change, static, station change, static, the radio was being frantically flipped through stations. I walked all the way into the room and found my associate on the floor with it between his lap. Percy didn't look up; he was hunched over the small hand radio as if it were a puzzle with all the secrets in the world locked inside. "Percy?" The air in that room felt different. It felt sad and suffocating. I went forward and still Percy didn't look up.

"I found this," He said not disturbed by my intrusion, "I started checking the airwaves, I thought I heard a voice but I haven't been able find it again." He turned the channel and held the talkie up to his face. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He asked, answered only by static. He shook his head and finally turned his eyes up to me.

"Have you been crying?" His eyes were red, tear tracts were streaked down his face. There was a rush of emotions so jarring inside of me seeing his face like that. At first it was disbelief, real and true, honest to goodness disbelief. Something in me had just conformed to the idea that Percy was Superman incarnate. Then, I felt a sadness so raw and unexplainable I almost started bawling myself, Percy should not cry. I had seen him have one small fit days back when I had reminded him of his now dead girlfriend, but he was over that quickly enough. I think it was more for my benefit though. His face just wasn't built for crying though, when Percy cried the universe cried with him. He looked as if wails and screams and outbursts of unimaginable sorrow were locked just behind his glossy eyes, his face twisted up in the worst of ways and real hurt could be seen where he bit at his lips to keep from whimpering.

Percy was, I decided, not allowed to cry anymore. Ever.

"I told you I don't like being alone," He said quietly. "You were still sleep, I didn't want to wake you up with this," He held the radio up. "I tried talking to the dog but she only answers you so I started trying to see if I could find anyone else to talk to," He gave me a small smile heartbreaking smile. I kneeled—fell—down on the ground.

"Percy what happened? What's wrong?" His eyes darted back and forth. This had been what he must have truly looked like when he thought I left. I had caused that. I felt my still uneasy stomach flare with bile but I held it down.

"It's stupid," He said. "Sorry. I thought it would be okay, but when I'm alone I can still see their faces, Nico. My friends, my parents. I can still hear their voices, everyone used to tell me everything was going to be okay. I worry easy, you know?" Was this Percy? I felt like I had entered an alternate dimension that the door to room 126 led to, as if some sort of invisible black hole had been the dividing line between this reality and the next and now I was talking to a Percy who was very visibly shaken. He wiped his nose, "See? I'm not as strong as you seem to think I am," He just continued to smile and little by little my heart just continued to break.

"Percy, you don't have to be strong for me," I told him, my own voice shaking. He had me on the verge of tears as well "Hell, sometimes it'd be pretty great if I knew you were as scared about some of this shit as I am." He laughed dryly and without humor.

"Oh, I'm scared Nico," He told me and I believed him. "I'm scared that we'll show up somewhere that doesn't have any food, I'm scared we'll run out of gas somewhere that doesn't have a station or cars we can take and we're stranded too far from the next town to walk it. I'm scared that you'll run, I'm scared that I'll miss you too much to continue this journey. I can't lose another friend." He sighed and a set of lone tears fell out of his eyes. I squeezed his hands with mine. "I'm scared because I have a hell of a lot of feelings but I don't want to scare you away with them." That was it, I pulled him into a hug it was all I could do, hugs were said to provide comfort and he had hugged me more than enough times that I should know it worked. "What you said to me last night, drunk or not, it hurt." He whispered in my ear. "Because I fall easy, Nico, I do. It gave me false hope that you felt the same way I feel,"

"Percy, we've known each other for less than a month," I said sensibly, level-headedly.

He smiled again, "I know, I know. I get ahead of myself, it's one of my many flaws," I didn't believe he had very many flaws, but this show of unabashed emotion let me know that he was indeed human. "I'm a creature of habit, Nico. I want someone to hold, someone to call mine, I need somebody to love and you're not that person. Not yet, because you don't love me back." He closed his eyes as if he were going to cry again and his face twisted with even more sadness. "You weren't supposed to see me like this. I told you no more negativity,"

My idea of a shining knight in armor began to crumble, my idea of Percy standing with perfectly coifed hair atop The Daily Planet with an "S" on his chest did as well. What I was left with was a face, one that was smiling at me, a face that could laugh and cry, that could whisper and yell. It was someone who got jealous and envious and even felt things. Bad things. The need for revenge, hatred, animosity. I was left with an utterly mortal image of Percy and I just hugged him harder. He wiped his nose again, behind my back on his arm and he tried to get me to let go, but I held fast.

"Percy," I said. "you've been…you've been amazing. You _are_ amazing, I'm actually surprised," I laughed jokingly in his ear. "I was going to start looking for a panel on your back because I was afraid you were a robot or something." He smiled.

"I'm trying to protect you,"

"You don't have to do it alone," I told him. "Remember? We're watching each other's backs, remember, that's what you said. So I won't get mad if you lean on my shoulder a little while you do it, I won't think you're weak or anything for crying in front of me,"

He grinned at me, but even with how real a smile it was it was out of place on his tear soaked face. "Grover damn sure would have," Then he looked as if he had upset himself all over again.

"Will you tell me about them?" I asked. "It might make you feel better,"

"You don't want to hear about that," He shrugged, I put his arm over my shoulder and sank down to the floor with him, cradling myself against his body.

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't curious," I told him. "Go on, tell me." And he did, at first it was begrudgingly, almost as if to sate me, but once he got started one story after the next started spiraling out of his mouth. There was the time he and Grover had broken three statues that were in a woman who they called "Medusa's" yard, so-called because apparently her hair was like a rat's nest all over her head. She had chased them all the way back to his house. Then there was the time he and some of the guys trenched Coach Gleeson's yard. (The guys being: Grover, who's last name was Underwood. The Stoll brothers Conner and Travis, Ethan Nakamura, a kid named Jason Grace, and a guy named Luke Castallen, apparently Percy had a lot of friends. But, these guys and his and Grover's girlfriends Annabeth and Juniper seemed to be the main group of them as they were the most consistently mentioned) He told me about all the toilet papering they did, all the mischief he and his buddies got into. I tried not to think about the fact that he had gotten into a lot more than I had, Percy was unloading on me not the other way around.

Soon he turned the talk to his family, how Paul had taken them all to Washington one year and how they ended up going to San Juan Island and seeing a beautiful lighthouse. He told me that before she met her husband how his mother would sneak away in the middle of the night just to cry for hours. He told me about a health scare with Tyson when they thought they were going to lose him and how that had been one of the biggest emotional traumas on the whole family. I listened to all of Percy's stories, every last one of them, until he and I were just laughing at some of the dumbest stuff he had ever done; streaking through football games, egging the president of the school board's car, dining and dashing. We were laughing together so hard that the tears that had once been sad and abysmal were now overjoyed and silly. "And then," He laughed. "the bird just crapped all over Juniper's head. Like _all_ over," He could hardly catch his breath, I couldn't. "She was a vegetarian before that but afterwards she started eating every kind of bird you can imagine for revenge! Chicken, turkey, she would have eaten ostrich if she could've!" We were collapsed upon each other, arms wrapped around one another. There weren't any words, just our gasping, jovial need for air. I wiped at my eyes and Percy finally heaved a great sigh, the last of his laughter coming out in small bursts. He gripped at his side, a stitch had worked its way into mine as well. He beamed a faraway smile, then he patted me on the shoulder and I looked at him with a grin. "Thank you," He said gratefully.

"No," I said. "Thank you, I'll never think about prairie dogs the same again."

"They're viscious little bastards, they deserved what they got!" We both just laughed again. After a few more minutes of us having a good time he stood, chuckling still. "We should get going," He told me; I never thought I would ever stop smiling.

"Yeah," I nodded, and then I looked to my left and saw that there was a bathroom. "First though, I think I'll use that shower," I said remembering earlier that morning.

"Alright, I'll bring you something to wear, then we'll get out of the Percy Jackson Republic and move on to the Di Angelo Purchase," I chuckled.

"I hope there aren't any prairie dogs there," Percy patted me on the back and then unexpectedly he hugged me. I hugged him back. We had an understanding, something even stronger than before. Now we had a bond, a pact. Where friendship turned slightly amorous had been before there was now no defining word for what we were other than intertwined, wholly and indivisibly. I'll admit that it was the best hug I had ever gotten.

I suddenly couldn't wait to get on the road again.


	8. Chapter 8

**NOTE: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Eight:** Breach

"We're lost," I decided.

"I told you you can't get lost on an adventure." Percy laughed. "Besides, we're close,"

"How do you know?" I asked looking over at him.

"Call it a good sense of direction," Was the smiling response. We left Wyoming about ten days ago; we had travelled through a lot of cities. Sight-seeing is a lot easier when there aren't other people crowding the streets. Currently we were leaving Louisiana behind, or at least we had left it behind two days prior. It was the last place we had actually stopped for a while, we'd been on the road ever since. Percy had even let me drive for a long while; it was exhilarating being behind the wheel again, even more so when there weren't any speed limits to adhere to.

"Where're we going anyway?" I asked.

"Miami for a few days. Then we can start heading north and we'll finally be on our way to Camp Halfblood." He explained, I guess Miami was one of those cities you just had to see like New Orleans had been, or so Percy had told me. He had been very right. New Orleans had been a magical place; at least that's what it felt like. There was a deep rooted enchantment in New Orleans, magic embedded in not only the buildings but in the very streets themselves. There were some places where I swear I heard big swing band music, only to turn and realize that Percy and I were quite alone. It had been a nice time, more romantic at least than Wyoming—by that I mean there were no storms, and more paranormal as well.

As eerie as it was it had been wondrous at the same time; it was obeah and macabre and awesome. It was the kind of place I think even my dad would have liked. Personally I had downright loved it. But, I had also loved almost every other city and state we had passed through on the way to Louisiana. They would have probably been more fun to visit if there were people around to tell us about the sites we saw, but we were fine without them. A part of me thought that it might have been the fact that I was with Percy that I was having the time of my life, and I wasn't really disputing that. He made things fun. "Look at that," He pointed; it was the Georgia/Florida state line. _Welcome to Florida!_ The sign told us.

Maybe it was still the last fingers of Georgia gripping onto the landscape but I had figured Florida would immediately be all palm trees and beaches instead of all the pine and grass around us. I was hoping it would remind me partially of California, of home, but the trees were Evergreens which I was finding out were quite abundant in the South, or at least on the South Eastern side of the United States. "Any idea how far Miami is from here?" I asked.

"Do you really wanna know?" He returned; he said it in a way that made me unsure if I did, in fact, want to know. But, I nodded anyway as curiosity got the better of me because Percy was so normally not one for mystery and he normally had me hanging on his every word. "Eight hours if I drive nonstop," I heaved a great sigh. "It's at the bottom of the state," He laughed again. "It's not that bad, you wanna play a driving game till we get there?" I rolled my eyes.

"99 bottles of beer one the wall, 99 bottles of beer take one down pass it around 98 bottles of beer on the wall," I sang in a lackluster and unamused voice. Eight hours of this, really? He smiled brightly at me and laughed.

"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer take one down pass it around 97 bottles of beer on the wall!" Percy chorused. I looked back at him to see if we were actually going to do this and he just nodded with the world's biggest goddamn smile, he took my hand in his.

Well, it was better than doing nothing.

Around our twenty-second bottle of beer the game took a turn though, "Twenty-two bottles of beer on the wall, twenty-two bottles of beer, take one down drink till you drown, twenty-one bottles of beer on the wall," Percy varied.

I actually smiled at that, it was creative, "Twenty-one bottles of beer on the wall, twenty-one bottles of beer, take one down give it to a clown, twenty bottles of beer on the wall," We were entertaining ourselves, I wondered how the pioneers had done it, riding for days and days at a time without handheld games and iPhones and other devices that made daily life more bearable. I thought of quitting the game when we were down to ten beers, but there were only ten left so instead we kept going.

"A single bottle of beer on the wall, a single bottle of beer, take it down, pass it around no more bottles of beer on the wall," Percy sighed, taking a breath, I wondered how the hell was he could smile after that boring ass game?

"Well that was _fun_." I said sarcastically, he squeezed my hand.

"I can think of something a lot more fun to do," He said suggestively, I looked over at him and deadpanned.

"I'm not blowing you while you drive," Percy chuckled and then looked hurt suddenly, as if he would _never_ dare to ask me something like that. I rolled my eyes again as a wide smile broke out over his face. He turned back to the road.

"I could always pull over,"

"You're an ass,"

"A nice one,"

"An ass all the same," I concluded, he kissed my hand.

"You're too kind, Nicky, too kind." I shook my head but couldn't help smiling. "Just tell me when you want to stop and I'll pull over in the next town so we can get some sleep."

I shook my head, "Nah, I can ride a little while longer," We passed the exit for Tallahassee and something intriguing crossed my mind. "Percy?"

"Yes, Nico?" Percy asked.

"Disney World is in Florida isn't it?" I looked over at him and his smile turned mischievous.

"There are _a lot_ of theme parks down here, but that's one of them, yes," He said. I turned my attention to the groves of orange trees we were passing. "Are you asking if we can stop at Disney World?"

"I'm not saying it would be a bad idea," I found myself grinning.

"Your wish is my command," I felt the truck gun forward and I just laughed. Our speedometer must have been in the triple digits by the time Percy even slightly began slowing down again. Florida wasn't like anything I thought it would be; it was orange groves and swamp lands with cities and towns sprinkled in between.

"I've never been this far South before," I admitted to him as we barreled down the road.

"City boys like you hardly ever have," He laughed, I cut my eyes at him. "I'm sorry, it's just true,"

"M'sorry not _errbody_ can be from down here," I said imitating his way of speaking to the best of my abilities; I thought I did rather well but he just laughed harder.

"Is that supposed to be me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that s'pposed to be me?" I answered mimicking him still. "I'm surprised you're not in leather cowboy boots and a cowboy hat,"

"I left 'em behind," He grinned. "They're called snake skin boots, by the way, not cowboy." I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Whatever,"

"You know you'd look pretty good in a pair of boots and a nice hat," He squeezed my hand again. I looked over at him and tried to imagine myself in a cowboy hat, the image wasn't very appealing. Then he grinned deviously, "Just the two though, nothing else," I felt myself blush and he laughed again. "Cute," He laughed. "or should I say you're redder than a newborn's bottom, since you like my Southern colloquialisms so much," He slowed the truck down to a considerably safer speed and leaned over the dash. "Kiss me," As if I'd kiss him on command. He poked his lips out and I just stared at his face.

"Are you imitating a fish?" I asked, he looked like one of those girls in those damned Myspace photos; the ones where they're wearing the same expression in every picture.

"Kiss," He said again, slowing down more. I looked away from him.

"Florida sure is marshy," I said; the truck stopped.

"Go on and kiss me," He closed his eyes and leaned in, again I simply rolled my own eyes. Mrs. O'Leary poked her head up to the front seat and before I could even start laughing properly her tongue was bathing Percy in slopping wet salivation. His face scrunched up in mild disgust.

"You gotta be more specific than that, obviously she thought you were talking to her," I laughed.

"Well, shoot-far," Percy spat wiping at the drool running off his nose and down his chin.

"Don't expect me to kiss you again for some time," I grinned, but as soon as I said that he jumped me, rubbing his face all over mine. I felt his tongue dart out and it flitted into my mouth. "Ew!" I said around it trying not to sound as if I wasn't enjoying it as his tongue rolled between my teeth and tongue. "Oh, God Percy you're disgusting!" He pecked my mouth again and I swear I tasted dog slobber. "Euch!" I said as soon as he pulled away.

"What?" He chuckled. "Ain't you heard a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's?"

"Haven't you heard that I don't want dog spit _inside_ of my mouth, though?" I returned and he just grinned. He started driving again, all the while still trying to get me to kiss him. I refused; as much as I enjoyed tonguing Percy I liked it to be his own saliva, not my dog's. I reached into the back, "Where's that Listerine?" I grabbed it and gargled it, rolling the window down and spat.

"Feel better?" I passed it to him, he took it and sipped a bit rolling it around in his mouth then he did the same as me, spitting out the window.

"I do now," I said. Mrs. O'Leary's panting, slobbering face came up to the front again. "You go back there," I laughed but I scratched her behind the ears. "You wanna go to Disney World?" I asked her, she barked once and I heard her tail wagging. "Of course you do, everyone loves Disney World,"

"And you hated the idea of an eight hour drive," Percy grinned.

"Think of it as a break," I said, returning the smile with minty breath.

When we arrived at the park the sun was halfway through the sky, signaling the oncoming of dusk, and then ultimately night. Disney World, it was supposed to be a place of wonder. It was supposed to be a place of color and fun and laughter and imaginary characters so magical they lived with you throughout your entire life. Disney World was supposed to be a place of contentment and childhood joy, but, the Disney World that lay out before us was dead. Cold, and unmoving as any corpse we had seen thus far. I stared hard, without all of the flashing lights and balloons and laughter and music filling the air it just seemed like one big corporate conglomeration turned horribly dark. Gone were the days of Peter Pans and Cinderellas, of Mulans and Belles, and Tiana's and Prince Charmings, gone were the days of cabbages and Kings. This place, why it was just a dust ridden shell of what was once raucous, pseudo-entertainment gone wrong; it looked like the place the Disney characters had gone to die.

I stared hard at the fallen kingdom with unbelieving eyes and a feeling hit me; despair welled up inside my chest like a lit flare. This place was so sad, as if no one had been in or out in so long. I remembered the deaths of millions; I remembered the twisted, blue-blooded smiles of people dying in hospital beds as they said their final goodbyes. I remembered my one rule: survival. If such a place as Disney World hadn't survived then what hope was there for a kid from California? I stared and I stared and I felt my eyes burning with the ghosts of tears. Everywhere we went I was reminded that there was not only us—had not only been us. We were not two Adams created by God above to roam the Earth on adventure after adventure; we were just two guys riding in a truck with a dog and a cat.

I tried not to slip into my default gear of apathetic distance at that thought as I examined abandoned shop and theme ride after abandoned shop and theme ride, it was easy to avoid with Percy holding onto me but without my normal lack of feeling the knife of agonistic sadness rendered my brain speechless. I had seen horrors, and I would probably continue to. Bodies mangled lying in the streets, picked over by animals and left for the sun to fry. Cities once thriving and flocking with the life of the day to day reduced to overgrown garden ornaments.

Percy patted my back and smiled taking us up to the gate, unaware of my building emotion and trepidation. There was a chain around the iron spires and a lock that would make people think twice about trying to open it. As Percy was examining it I tugged on his shirt, "Hey, uh, maybe we should just get down to Miami," I said scanning the amusement grounds. The parking lot was full of cars which let me know that there were tons of those non-people inside. The things that resembled humans, and had at one point in time been animate and living, but were now nothing more than grim reminders of death.

I turned away from the amusement park, I hated feeling like this. Like no matter how much happiness I could find it would always be outweighed by heavy terror. Terror that one day I just wouldn't wake up anymore, terror of how fragile every human life truly is—how easily killed we could be. I made a fist, trying to distract myself somehow, but there was no escaping mortality.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked finally noting my near despondent appearance, I shook my head.

"What would going in there accomplish, Perce?" I replied tearing my eyes away from the something that was supposed to represent joy and happiness. "I don't think I could bear seeing another dead body, especially if it's in there," He looked at the park quickly and then back to me.

"Are you sure you?," He asked, looking serious. "Nico, you need to unwind, have fun. I can clean it all up for you if you want?" I chanced a smile and leaned up, kissing him on the lips. I was touched by his caring, so touched in fact that it left a tingle on my lips. I kissed him again, it was the distraction I was looking for.

"I am having fun, with you," I wanted to get away from here, it reminded me too much of that little girl's room, it would have been wrong to invade such a sacred place. I grabbed his hand and led him back to the car where we climbed back in. Well, I climbed in and he stayed in front of my door, leaning in between my legs. He put both of his arms around me and I sank into his warmth. Percy had easily become my comforter, my protector and I his, I would like to think. We were two people put together by fate and if ever there was anyone with whom I would want to be stranded with it was him. The tingling in my lips grew till it was spread all over my body. I know I shouldn't have but I kissed him again, hard and with need. I took his lips and sipped mouthfuls of his hope into myself, I took his provided comfort and I reveled in it. Reveled in him, in everything he was. I needed his humanity, his sound mind, his agile fingers and determined way of speaking. I needed Percy, he was the one good thing in an otherwise horrible world. "Percy, please," I don't know what I was asking for—maybe everything, maybe nothing at all—but I knew he could give it to me.

He pulled back, "Nico," I stared at him, why was he stopping me? Here I was finally ready to give myself over to him, to give him what he had been after for so long, and now he was _stopping_ it? I found myself settling my face in a decidedly unhappy frown. "Put it on hold, okay? You've got a lot of emotions riding through you right now, I don't want you thinking I'm taking advantage of you." I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him closer.

"I think I'm taking advantage of you," I told him quietly, I didn't mean for my voice to shake but it did, and heavily so. Even with all the advancements we'd made there were probably some places that I would never be able to go without getting like this. Getting scared and needing to use him like this, to use his strength. I clutched at him and he let me because we knew each other so well now, I clutched at him and he just loved me. He kissed me sweetly, once underneath each eye and then on my lips. His mouth tasted like saltwater. I reached up and touched a tear on my cheek. "I'm always fucking crying," I complained wiping furiously at my eyes. "I don't mean to be, I'm sorry. God! Why can't I do anything right?" I was upset now, either from rejection or from always facing death, of the two of them I wasn't sure which was most accurate.

"Look," His eyes were dark, darker than navy—nearly black. I was startled by them, by the copious amount of need and lust that laced each and every word that came out of his mouth next. "Just sit till we get there, hear? If you still want to—to…" He rolled his hand in front of him in a gesture and continued, "then tell me. Please, for the love of God tell me and we will. But, only if you still want to," I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and nodded, pressing our lips together again softly. He grabbed me by the sides and slyly pulled back, "You're going to get something started that's real difficult to stop," He warned. I felt a small smile touch my lips then he walked to the other side of the truck and climbed in. Percy started it and we were on the way again, leaving behind the Magic Kingdom and what semblance of joy it had left untouched.

The thing was, when we arrived in Miami it had only left time for me to stew in my mind. My thoughts were now boiling and I was clenching the seat of my chair. Percy wouldn't even look at me; his eyes were trained hard on the road and on getting us to an appropriate destination. The moon was high in the sky, stars sparkled to life above us in awe inspiring breaths of life but we paid neither any attention. The tension between us was palpable; it was raw and heady and left me sweating. I rolled down my window trying to cool myself, the Summer night air wafted casually through my nose and smelled slightly of watermelon. We had been together for a long time, me and him. Well, longer than I had been with anyone else—pre-Mist. I felt the closest thing to love I think a person could feel for someone in the weeks we had known each other, it was a powerful thing. I think it really was actual love, I'd never felt it in a facet like this before. It made my chest tight and my palms sweat. It made me question why I had waited so long to feel this way, why a theme park riddled with sadness had been the one thing to push me over the edge of futility into the blissful land of unabashed want.

My prudish ways seemed foreign and obtrusive now, more harmful than good. I would easily do away with them as soon as I could. We rolled up to a beach, the kind where you could see the ocean endlessly for miles all around. Where the sands were white and the waves were a chemical blue. Percy turned to me; his eyes were intense—breathtaking even. "What's the plan?" He asked, there was an uneasiness to his voice, as if some sort of disappointment laid in waiting right around the corner for him.

I touched his knee, "Put a blanket down, I don't want to get sand everywhere," I said opening the door. He was a madman in the next flurry of seconds; before my car door was even closed he was around back of the truck rifling through our things for our largest blanket. Giddily he ran onto the beach which I would have liked to admire for just a bit but the next thing I knew he was grabbing me by the arm and pulling me towards the spread he had placed on the ground for us. I was kissed quite ferociously; he ground his entire body into mine. His lips were hungry, they searched mine out for every peck, every feathery light touch, and especially for those hard smashings of mouths, where teeth gnashed against teeth. I was nearly knocked off my feet from the power of his enthusiasm but I returned it as best I could. He pulled back with a big, lopsided grin; I read his face as something crossed through his mind. It was funny, he wore his thoughts like a book wears its text—visible to the world.

"Oh!" He jumped up and ran back over the truck after officially making sure I was seated on the blanket. "You wanted this to be special right?" I nodded, the next thing I knew soft instrumental music began playing loudly from the speakers. It was a smooth piano jazz, classy even. He came back over with a familiar cylindrical tube in hand.

"Have you been carrying that around with us this entire time?" I asked looking at the lubrication with a questioning eye.

"Shh," He shushed, placing his finger against the front of my mouth. "No talking, it leads to mind changing," I felt myself smile and he kissed me, laying me back on the large sheet he had put down. The waves were lapping gently against the shore, tossing and washing the beach. I listened to it absently and to the piano as it played softly, accompanied by saxophone, as he kissed the side of my neck. From my back I could see that the stars were watching us, hundreds of thousands of eyes all winking at me. My mind began to wander; distantly I felt my shirt being pulled over my head.

"Percy?" I looked at him, he was working his way down my chest, kissing and nipping my skin there in a scintillating way. He looked up at me but didn't cease his licking and tasting of my torso..m …

"Mm?" He unbuttoned my pants. My breath hitched as he kissed his way down the thin happy trail connecting from my abdomen to the elastic waistband of my underwear. His fingers wrapped around said waistband and began tugging them down. My chest was rising and falling as his head dipped lower and lower still, slowly, agonizingly working my jeans down.

"What does love feel like?" I asked, he chuckled and turned his eyes back on me as he had returned to his work of undressing me; they—his eyes—were addled by joy but were still heavily clouded and dark. He kissed at the junction between my waist and my legs pulling my shorts all the way down and I felt myself become self-conscious suddenly. He worked his back up to my lips, stopping at my clavicle and dipping his head into the juxtaposition of my neck and shoulders, grazing his teeth there lightly.

"Love," He said. "makes the day feel brighter, even when the sun's not out," He moved to the other side of my neck. "It makes food taste better, even when it's crappy," He kissed my cheek. "It makes your heart pound out of your chest, makes each one of these so much sweeter," Our lips met and the sweetness was indeed something to behold. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, deepening the kiss. Funnily enough I was the one who was naked this time, he was still fully clothed.

"I think…" I told him in a soft, nervous voice full of un-faked honesty. "I think I love you then, Percy," He grinned down at me, his big, honest grin that I needed to see become a permanent thing. I touched his cheek, his eyebrow, his nose, his mouth; he was so real under my fingertips; for so long I'd been alone. Tracing my fingers down his body I pulled at the shirt he was wearing until it was up and over his head and he pressed our bodies together. I could see how this feeling was something he had missed, the contact of skin on skin, it registered in a completely different sort of way then just, say, holding hands.

He kissed me as I tossed his shirt to the side, "I love you too, Nico," He whispered warmly in my ear. "Have for some time now," His breath sent a shiver down my spine, my pulse began pounding in my ears, he bit down. My neck, collar and right shoulder were all soon imprinted with deep teeth marks and angry red suction bruises known as hickeys. He kissed, and bit, and licked his way down to my navel. I flexed my toes and drew in a breath of the warm night air. We were really going to do this, it was happening.

For a while now I was scared to think of this, to think of Percy and I as sexually active people. I knew myself and if I let myself become so vulnerable with another person it would mean that I didn't just kind of give myself away. It was wholly and completely. But I—well, I couldn't imagine going anywhere without Percy now I had already kind given him some parts of me, no matter how unwillingly at the beginning. And I really do think I loved him, it was hard to say because I had never loved anyone like this before. Circumstances withstanding, were Percy and I ever to meet like this as normal teenagers and he gave me the time of day I would have probably immediately fallen for him. I'd always wanted someone to give me this kind of attention, secretly. I think I had always needed someone to counteract me, to balance me out. I was yang and he was yin.

"You still with me, Nicky?" I looked down, he was below my navel now where the small treasure trail began to dip into my crotch. I bit my lip because he ran his teeth down that spot, then he was on top of me. Perhaps I should explain; he was giving me sex of the oral kind. His lips wrapped around the head of my manhood without hesitation, sucking away with abandon. I shouldn't have watched; it was like he was pulling all of me away into him, it was like he was after my very essence, after what made me, me. I was dazed, I watched his head bob up and down, and up and down over and over again; our eyes locked.

How does one describe pleasure, it wasn't white hot or blinding. It was a feeling like slowly, but surely, my body was filling up to the brim. Like something needed to explode forth from me any way it could. That was what my pleasure felt like, as if I were tub about to overflow because someone had turned my faucets on full. My eyes squeezed shut, I couldn't watch Percy anymore. It was too erotic, too tantalizing. He grabbed my hand and placed it on top of his head, motioning for me to make him go at my own pace. I grabbed a hand full of his lengthy chocolate curls and did as I was bid. I pushed him down and he swallowed all of me, his tongue darted out and swept underneath the base of my shaft and I think I cursed loudly. It felt like I cursed loudly anyway. I released some of my hold on his head and he bobbed back up, licking the entire time till he was at the tip of my penis again.

He kissed it, and then kissed the underside nibbling and suckling till he was immersed between my now raised legs. Then he did something that left me speechless—even more so. He placed both my testicles in his mouth and his arm came around tugging at my erectness. Simultaneously the sensation was too much, the filling feeling began to accelerate. Both of my hands were embedded in his hair now, and one longstanding moan was continuously falling out of my mouth. "Percy!" It was the only coherent thing I could say, well, "Please, God, yes," shortly followed it, but even those sounded like garbled murmurings to me.

He licked his way up my shaft again, throating me down to the base while still tugging at my hangings jewels. "Fuck! Shit! Fuck! Shit!" I couldn't contain myself, not for very much longer. I was at my limit. Sweat had pooled around my abdomen and all along the rest of me, running down my body as if I had just been in the world's longest marathon. Fire. There was that blinding hotness, the utterly white and completely intangible spark.

"I'm gonna cum," I breathed heavily, tacitly, my head was swimming and there was a moment where my eyes were singularly fixed on the moon. "Percy, God, I'm going to—" He didn't care, it seemed, his sucking became harsh, a vortex of saliva and tongue. So I came, I climaxed the hardest that I had ever done before in my entire life and with force. Amazingly he took it all down in stride, as if for all my efforts he wasn't even the least bit fazed. I blinked tears out of my eyes, tears of the sweetest kind as I felt Percy climbing my body. He pressed his lips down onto mine and we kissed. Something passed between our mouths and I realized that it was the very effects of my efforts themselves. I was so startled by that that I swallowed unwittingly as he kissed me more fiercely.

He pulled back with a big, shit eating grin, "Enjoy that?"

"Where did you learn to do that?" I replied breathlessly, he just chuckled and I saw he was still looking for an answer to his question. "Yes, I very much liked that," I told him truthfully.

"Good," He laughed. "Because there's a lot more where that came from."

Sex was…well, sex was good. Sex was a godsend; it was something that when you're ready for and when your partner is ready and that you can do without a self-conscious feeling a tear would come to your eyes from sheer bliss. I had never imagined being connected how Percy and I had been connected before, not with that amount of clarity anyway. When two people were in the throes of lovemaking there were no secrets about that other person, their body unlocked and unfolded and told you everything about them.

For instance: when Percy gets really into it his tongue darts out the side of his mouth just the slightest bit. His brow draws together in concentration, and he wants to keep eye contact the entire time—if and when we were facing each other. It seemed like a sort of sacred ritual to him, and I was glad he took so much pride in it because it was important to me that I not be just another notch on his bedpost. At times he would shower me with kisses, praise me, make me feel like I was the most important thing in existence and that was appreciated, but I also liked when he treated me like I wasn't breakable. When he thrust and drove into me with so much aggression that my knees went weak.

You learn things about yourself as well, like: I really enjoyed being on top. I liked riding on my own, controlling the pace of our combinedness. It was empowering because I had never felt so in control before and I loved every second of it. There was a moment in our tryst wherein Percy completely and totally surrendered to me, and it had been scary at first to think that I was the one with all the power, but that fear soon turned to elation as I made him just as incompetent and babbling as I had been.

There was a lot of good give and take, if you catch my drift, and now we were lying on the beach completely spent beyond going again. So far we'd done it three times and I don't think it was going to happen a forth. I was tired, we had been riding all day, emotions had been high, but my body seemed more than willing to have given me the three that had already happened. Percy kissed my neck, rolling on top of me again. "One more," He said, I groaned, but my groaning turned to moaning as he bit me just underneath my chin with a pressure he discovered could make me the most obedient thing in the world.

"Fine, one more time," I said, though my lower half was one step ahead of me before the words even left my mouth. So we did it again, and then again. After a while I lost count, but when we did finally finish the pink light of morning was peaking over the horizon. I laid down on Percy's heaving, sweating chest and I just wanted to sleep. I couldn't help the smile on my lips, but I was dog tired.

"Will you watch the sunrise with me?" I looked up at him, in the dusky morning brilliance he was gorgeous. His piercing blue eyes held me and coddled me and made my own heart throb, the small smile on his lips was handsome and the scruff gathered around his unshaven chin added to his rugged appeal. There was no way I could say no to him.

"Sure," I said with a small smile, I sat up with his help and for a long moment a warm, comfortable silence passed between us. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he kissed the top of my hair. Then the sun rose, on the beach shore it was a white mass ascending slowly into the air, flecks of gold, red, and orange exploded around it as it set the now turquoise blue waters shimmering. As the sun rose the beach seemed to come to life, waves that were once gentle things were now tossing back and forth playfully, white froth washed onto the edge of the shoreline, lapping at our feet, the sky was an indeterminable gray with fluffy clouds painted here and there.

For a full thirty minutes we watched the sun rise, and I reviewed everything that had happened to me and to Percy since coming into contact with each other. All the times he saved me, not just physically but emotionally as well, all our "arguments" which were really just me not giving over into the love he was trying to project on me, all the steamy feelings, all the introspections, all the crying. In this moment they all felt like puzzle pieces to something much greater. I looked over at Percy who looked utterly serene now.

"Do you ever wonder about death? Like, what it feels like to die?" I asked, death was, I realized, the final puzzle piece. We make what we can with our lives and when we add that one last token to our puzzle we hope someone, somewhere will step back and look at it and think it was a beautiful work of art. Death wasn't something to be feared, not death itself; it was something to be embraced. When it was your time to go on—whether you believed in an afterlife or not—it was your time to go.

"I try not to," Percy told me after a moment. "thinking about it too much makes you morose, acknowledging it is one thing but I don't want it on my mind all the time," It made sense, Percy didn't not think of death because it was part of his survival not to breakdown but because as inevitable as it was it was still a sad occurrence when someone you know and loved dies. I wouldn't let death destroy me anymore though; I wouldn't let survival do that to me either. For so long I had been just going, going without thought, surviving without thought, and where had that gotten me? To a most bitter and depressing place, but if I did more than just survive—if I _lived_ I could finally be happy, _we_ could be happy.

"I love you," Percy kissed the top of my head again.

"I love you too," I said, and I realized it was more true than I had first thought. He grinned down at the look on my face and kissed my lips. Pulling me up he dragged me towards the ocean and I let him, we were as naked as the day we were born. I clung to him as the water washed over us, salty and cold and I smiled.

I smiled like I never had before, it was probably a foolish grin but I didn't care.

Percy splashed me and I stepped back, returning fire. Mrs. O'Leary came bounding out of the open truck window and we chased her, and each other, down the shore. It was a good start to a new day, a new life.


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Nine:** Arrival

I'm not going to lie, after our first day of initial lovemaking it was hard to not find some reason to touch Percy. I found myself craving him while he slept, found myself standing outside of the bathroom door while he showered wishing to go in with him and to sully all the work he had put into cleaning. Hell, when breakfast came around I wanted to clear the table and just do it right there. I liked feeling him inside of me, in anyway, I liked everything about sex so far. Well, everything but the soreness that followed that morning. It had been hard to walk, as if I'd spent all day trotting around on a bucking bronco, I was saddle sore. But, that hardly staved my burning desire to pull Percy into a hug and kiss and then much more. He had been generous, not once denying my affections and matching them without much visible effort on his part. Percy didn't even ask for it anymore, I was pretty much banging his brains out, I think. He walked around in a daze most of the time now with this huge grin on his face after we were done and for long periods of time he would insist that I wear little to nothing, if I wore anything at all. I obliged in that, feeling free in my lack of modesty and for the fact that I was beginning to learn that my body had just as much effect on Percy that his did on me. I was afraid to go mad with power, really. All I had to do was pop open a button on my shirt and he turned to me with a puppy dog expression, if he had a tail it would have wagged as if I were about to let him go outside after he'd been cooped up all day.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. The plan had been to stay in Miami for a few days, enjoy some sun and the beach, and head up to New York and that was still the plan, but a few days had turned into a week and a half. We'd found a nice, unused condo that overlooked the ocean and we stocked it full of unspoiled food and drinks, Percy had done something with the wiring of the entire complex and electricity had come back on. He was a regular Renaissance man, if I haven't said that before. Mrs. O'Leary was happy to have somewhere she could run around and chase small animals and Tyson was happy to have somewhere he could just lie and sunbath: the balcony, and I was happy to have an unused bed with unused sheets and unused pillows. We had made the place home, I think. Percy had traded our truck in for something he found on a lot, it was a convertible Mustang that probably got horrible gas mileage, but he assured me that with amount of fuel he was bringing with us we'd barely ever have to stop. I think he was right as most of the trunk of the sport's car was filled by two four galleon tanks, the lids of which were tightly screwed on and let no smell or fume of gasoline escape. We were setup for our trip but we were having fun playing house again.

With Percy I was dealing with strong emotions, emotions I had learned to call love, trust, faith, and devotion. I hadn't felt them before and I think that was another reason I had been so scared before, because the unknown has a way of being frightening. Currently I felt my insides swelling; we were watching a movie thanks to a pilfered Blue-Ray player. We were settled on a couch, bathed in the dusky light of evening thanks to the huge, thick windows of the condominium. They were giant panes of glass that acted as the western facing wall, somehow allowing us to see out but keeping the out from seeing us. Before the fall of civilization we had begun advancing pretty far, I could only think of the wonders that might have happened had there not been death everywhere. Percy was playing with my fingers between our interlaced hands, tapping on my knuckles absently and I was settled into him, breathing his manly musk deeply. We were watching some action movie with Bruce Willis, after a while all his movies just looked the same to me, but Percy was into it.

It was strange hearing other people's voices, really it was something I hadn't done in a while. But, in the movie there were people everywhere, going about their ways, to work, to home, everywhere. It was nothing like how reality had become, now that way of life seemed like it was complete fantasy to me. I felt Percy kiss the top of my head and something animalistic lulled inside of me like a coming storm, thoughts of the world before falling away with his lips. I climbed on top of him slowly and we made slow, passionate love with the sounds of explosions in the background.

When we were both spent and lying on the floor Percy grinned at me and opened his mouth, "You know you're an animal," He laughed, I pressed my mouth against his and his hand grabbed my lengthy hair. "It's about time for a cut," He said running his fingers through my long locks that were beginning to tickle the bottoms of my shoulders. "Unless you're okay with it like this?" I couldn't care either way.

"Cut it if you want, whichever you like best," I smiled not really paying much attention, I was more focused on his warmth encircling around me.

"I'll cut yours if you cut mine," He returned and kissed my forehead, then my eyebrow, then my cheek and finally my mouth. I rolled on top of him again, our naked bodies pressing hard against each other.

"Sure," I said in a low, husky voice. This time we were frenzied, bringing climax on as quickly as we could. I was marinating in my desires, a look, a touch, a breeze could excite me now. If Percy was around I got hard, if I thought about Percy I got hard, it made actually showering very difficult and was the reason that we had to take separate baths. If we shared the tub it wasn't to bathe. We broke apart and Percy, who was much more experienced than me, could think much clearer than I could.

"Wait here," He said and I nodded, thoroughly fulfilled in ways I couldn't explain as he turned and walked just a little ways out of the living room. My lips ached to be pressed against his, my body was screaming for him to come touch me again, my soul missed its mate—and he was only about fifteen feet away from me. I felt my penis become swollen, pounding, and I tried to will away my erection in vain. It was a persistent thing, and it made thinking difficult. Percy returned with a pair of scissors in hand and saw that I was covering myself to the best of my abilities. He smiled. "What have I done?" He wondered putting the scissors down on the glass table in front of the television and came over to me.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly and he just laughed as he moved my hands away. He knelt between my legs and with unabashed, unashamed swiftness had me in his mouth. I don't know what you'd call it, instinct or whatever but I couldn't help myself. I ran my hand up and down his arched back as he did sinful things to me with his tongue and teeth. He placed a finger at my now inviting entrance and pushed it inside causing me to cry out from the dual sensation. Not long after that, him working two different places that were the most vital pleasure releasers, I came and collapsed on the wooden, polished floor. Percy swallowed what was in his mouth and chuckled.

"Can I cut your hair now?" He asked, merriment playing heavily in his eyes. I looked, he wasn't even aroused. I asked about that and he just laughed again, "Nicky, the more you do it the more you'll be able to control yourself," Was all he said in reply to my question, I wasn't sure I liked that answer.

"Sit back," I said. "You can cut my hair in a minute," He sat back patiently, a smile on his face. I kissed my way down his body, from clavicle to belly button and lower. With a hand around his considerable, uncut length I swallowed a good portion of him with determination. Almost as soon as my lips were wrapped around him he became as hard as a rock and I looked up at him.

"I told you, I just have a bit more time than you," He said leaning forward flexibly and kissing me again. I ducked under his chin and fellatio'd him with abandon, imitating how he had done me to the best of my ability. It took me ten whole minutes to finish him off. His breathing was quickened and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead but that was the only indication that he had been at all overwhelmed by my efforts. I would get better, I knew, but it was slightly disheartening to see how easy it came to him and how much I had to work if he didn't just give over to me. "Feel better?" He asked and I nodded. "Me too," He grinned then he stood and got the scissors again. "I can cut it however I want?"

"Just not bald," I said. "I would look horrible bald," He sat behind me and wrapped his legs around my waist. I put my back to his chest and he kissed my neck.

"I hardly think that's the case," He said. "But I'll do what I can." He kissed my neck again, grazing his teeth slightly over the hill of my shoulder. "Lean forward, sexy," I did as he commanded, trying my damndest not to focus singularly on the warmth of his crotch on my lower back. It would have been so easy to lean just a little further up and…I closed my eyes. If I pushed the issue again I think Percy would have thought something was seriously wrong with me, he took it in stride but I was insatiable for the most part. He had opened up some sort of floodgate and lust was pouring out of me like rushing water from a lowered dam. I don't think I had many more fluids left, he told me to keep properly hydrated but that was hard to do when where we kept the drinks was usually not where he was, and I liked being around him. Thirst and hunger were things put on the backburner if sex was on the forefront of my mind. Four times this week he had to force me to eat by threatening to withhold it from me.

I was hooked and he knew it.

I could hear the snipping of the scissors as hair fell around us on the floor. My passion dimmed slowly as I focused on a more innocent part of our time together. I had to remember to do this as well, it helped to lessen the perverse desire in my chest if I remembered how much time I enjoyed spending with him, if I thought how much I liked holding hands and sneaking kisses in the rain. Our relationship wasn't pure sex, as much as I had been turning it into that, it was something deeper and I had to keep reminding myself. Percy was humming something and I asked him to sing it aloud. It was a nice song, he told me it was by a band called Mumford & Sons called Awake My Soul and that he had the CD in the car so we could listen to it later. Percy had so much knowledge, more than I did. He was worldly and intelligent at the same time and I feared that I paled in comparison to him. I knew so few things, being held into myself for so long, but I remembered that he was just as human as I was. I could recall his tearful face, it was a painful memory though so I didn't look on it for too long.

We sat for about thirty minutes as he cut my hair, thankfully my mind was occupied with thoughts of the more wistful side of love and I hummed along with him as he sung more, songs I was vaguely familiar with, ones once heard on the radio or in passing in the hallways. It was amazing what my memory could recall after having just heard most of them once. He announced that he was done and that he wanted to wash it for me so I followed him to the bathroom, when I caught sight of myself in the mirror I almost laughed. It looked _good_ , almost professionally done. My bangs were just slightly longer than the rest of my hair so that they were a scant inch of falling in front of my vision, the rest of it was closely cut but still long enough to require combing. He turned the water on and I put my head under the warm stream. I liked this as well, this kind of intimacy. Proximity, Percy had his hands lathering shampoo into my hair and I was enjoying the feeling of his fingers raking gently across my scalp. He washed the shampoo out and moved onto conditioning it.

"We'll let the conditioner sit for a little while," He said, "It'll give your hair a lot of body," When he caught my expression he laughed. "I worked in a barbershop when I was enlisted; there were a lot of ladies who used to own salons there." He handed me a towel and I dried my face. "Come on, you do me now." I grinned and then so did he. "Haircut first, then we'll see," He said understanding his double entendre almost as quickly as I had.

"I don't know how to cut hair," I told him honestly after he assured me that I really was going to do it.

"Just do whatever you want," He smiled brilliantly. "If you mess up I'll fix it," That was pretty much all the convincing I needed, even if I was still unsure. If Percy trusted me that much then I wouldn't let him down.

First we tried it like he'd cut mine, sitting down. The problem was that Percy was quite a few inches taller than I was, me being 5'7-ish and him being about six-one, maybe six-two. I couldn't help it if he was freakishly tall. Okay, he wasn't freakishly tall, but still. So we ended up doing it on the couch where he sat and I stood. At first I was quite tentative, cutting just a little, but he told me to be liberal and that he didn't like having long hair anyway so I got more liberal. When I got through it was all relatively the same length, and very, very short. It didn't look bad but it didn't look anywhere near as good as he'd done for me. "Sorry," I apologized as he looked it over in the mirror. He laughed and ran his hand over it, it was closer to a buzz than anything as short as it was.

"It looks good," He lied, I stared at him hard. "It does," He lied again and I rolled my eyes. "Here, let me see the scissors." I handed them to him with a few quick snips he had turned my monstrosity into something presentable. "See, I can spike it up with a little gel and it'll look nice," He smiled. I was overcome by something in that smile and I put my arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. He turned around in my arms and hugged me to him. "I love you," He said somberly in my ear.

"I love you too," I said and I meant it fiercely. We kissed.

"Take a bath with me, help me wash my hair," I couldn't refuse him, so I watched him turn the water back on and let it get hot. He pulled the trigger for the shower next and stepped into the downpour. I followed in after him and can honestly say that not a lot of washing was done.

A few days later we finally got back on the road, almost reluctantly. Mrs. O'Leary was going to miss chasing the gulls, Tyson didn't seem to care one way or the other as he settled in my lap, and I was going to miss our quarters. It seemed like every time we stopped somewhere and established some sort of grounding it would be permanent. Hopefully, if this Camp HalfBlood place was real we would have some sort of official residence and for our sakes among people. If we drove straight on, without stopping again, New York should have been only a couple days away, especially without the hindrance of a speed limit.

"What do you know about this place?" I asked as we entered Tennessee, though I was referring to the Camp. Percy seemed to pick up on that.

"Well, not a lot," Percy shrugged. "Grover heard it from some radio broadcast, people were evacuating there or something, I don't know for sure." I thought that might have been the reason he was keeping that old CB radio in the back, he had fiddled with it a little when he thought that I was sleeping but I heard him searching the airwaves from time to time.

"Well, I hope it's real, for Grover," I said and Percy nodded. According to him me and Grover would have gotten along pretty well, I tried not to talk about his old friends too often unless he brought them up because they seemed to be sore points—rightfully so as he had lost them all. He grunted in some type of agreement and we settled into silence. I grabbed Percy's hand as we drove through the rustic state. Tennessee was beautiful in that down home kind of way, there were trees everywhere. Oaks, Magnolias, Firs, and there were so many pastures. I had never seen a real cow before, but now they were in abundance, not to mention horses and just about every other kind of farm animal you could think of. We drove through the state in a couple of hours, but I thought if we were ever to come through that way again it'd be a nice place to stop.

Luckily for me I was not done with Southern living just yet, over the next few days I found out that Kentucky and Virginia were—albeit the slightest bit more modern in their cities—as homey as Tennessee had been. They all had flair to them, a flair that reminded me of pictures I'd seen in my history books. Buildings from the Civil War were still erected proudly and I could only think that those on the lower bank of the United States had been sorely misrepresented a lot of the time in media. Percy was the prime example of that, he was smart, handsome, and good with his hands. I didn't know his middle name, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Cletus, or Billy-John or anything like that.

"Percy, what's your middle name?" I asked. He looked over at me, we hadn't really said much along the way other than the normal car talk about the places we were seeing. Conversation was lacking, and yet I was neither bored nor in the mood to make it, it was nice to just sit and ride. Then he smiled, "It's Rick, why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Perseus Rick Jackson, well, it was quite a name alright.

"What's yours? Di?" He asked a bit more

"I don't have a middle name," I told him. "di Angelo is my last name, it means 'of Angels' in Italian, I think my ancestors were like priests workers or something," I shrugged. I'd never really looked very far into my family history, it had bored me. It didn't matter where I came from to me; it mattered where I was going.

"Maybe it's because you're an angel," Percy grinned. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"That was so corny," Even after I said that though I felt my heart stutter, I leaned over and pecked his cheek ever so slightly. His eyes cut over at me and he smiled then turned his face a little more and I kissed his lips.

"Try to get some sleep, Neeks," He told me. "I'll need you up when I'm too tired to drive," I nodded and leaned back in my chair, Percy's hand held in both of mine between my lap. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, Percy's soft sing-along with the music over the speakers was enough to lull me into a comfortable slumber. I didn't dream, I hardly ever dreamed anymore, I laid there in a warm mass of myself, unconscious. There were low lights that played behind the vision of my eyes, barely considerable as lights at all as they lacked colored, but the darkness was comforting. Dreamless sleeps were the most rewarding because they meant my mind wasn't running, if I did have dreams they were usually lewd things now and I didn't want to cream my jeans while Percy was driving—that would have been bad.

I was happy. I think that was an astronomical thing, I'd said I was happy before, I'm sure, but now I was truly joyful. I woke up in the mornings looking forward to days; I rolled out of bed, not with a smile on my face I hadn't changed _that_ much, but in high spirits. Of course, getting out of bed was a difficult thing, when I had my face buried in Percy's fuzzy, muscled chest I just wanted to stay there the rest of my life. I was still having trouble sometimes dealing with this newfound happiness, see humans we're creatures of habit. My habit was being all doom and gloom, having an outlook on life that was grim at best morbid at the worst, but Percy made me hopeful. Hope felt nice settled in my chest, it was a reassuring like a bird returning to its favorite perch and singing it's song to the world; it was a beautiful thing, more than beautiful.

It felt gorgeous, I felt gorgeous. Percy liked me, he liked what he saw and didn't want a thing changed—well, maybe for me to keep my hair at a reasonable length but that wasn't so bad, truthfully I had only been growing it out because I truly didn't care one way or the other how I wore it. Now, though, with Percy looking I was afraid I'd be checking the mirror every few minutes making sure my face stayed clean, my hair stayed coifed, my clothes stayed stain free. When we stopped for clothes at the clusters of stores all throughout the country I'd get things that fit not so comfortably but looked good, as opposed to how it was before. Comfort over fashion. Hell, even my underwear had changed. Before they were these really loose boxer shorts, now they were these—cute as Percy called them—clingy briefs. They were comfortable enough, but if I wasn't careful they rode up.

Anyway…not only was I happy but I was ecstatic. My cheeks were starting to hurt from using the muscles to smile so goddamned much. But, Percy had said he liked my smile before, privately. He said a lot of thing when we were being intimate, things that thinking of made my mind turn a little hazy and made me squirm a bit. He was a very passionate guy and I liked his fire, I liked everything about Percy even the stuff I thought that I hated at first. I guess Mrs. O'Leary wasn't such a bad judge of character after all.

"Nicky," I heard said softly, I groaned. "Baby," That was another thing, Percy was wont to call me by nicknames like, "baby" and "darling" or I mean, "darlin'." I wouldn't admit it but it made me feel special. "Nico," He half-whispered again and I sat up. The sun was high in the sky, indicating it was somewhere near two o'clock and we were entering into a huge metropolis. "We're in New York," I sat up sleepily, and Percy kissed the side of my face. _New York_? I thought as I blinked. We had barely been in Jersey when Percy had made me "try to get some sleep" he'd been going the entire time for who knows how long.

"You prick; you were supposed to wake me up to drive," I said finally tearing my eyes away from all the huge buildings. He just smiled and I could see how tired he was. "How long was I out?"

"The whole day," He said. "I was going to wake you up but you started talking in your sleep," I noticed that the radio was turned down and I felt my cheeks flush.

"What did I say?" I asked, mortified.

"Nothing embarrassing," He laughed in a warm and friendly, disarming sort of way. "Stuff I already know, you know? That you love me," He kissed me again. "that you and I were going to get married," Oh, God. I felt myself blush harder.

"I did not," I said in a breathy, disbelieving voice. I could hear my heartbeat pouding in my ears.

"Did too," He laughed. "It was cute, you're cute," I laid my forehead on his shoulder. He rubbed his hand up and down my back. "There, there, darling," He laughed and I tried to sink deeper into him. "Hey, it's just the two of us, there's no need to feel embarrassed,"

"Yet I do," I replied. He chuckled and grabbed my face, kissing me on the lips.

"Come on, we'll find that camp somewhere in this confusing city,"

We never estimated exactly how hard it would be to find some place that wasn't on the map. There were no giant signs that said "CAMP HALFBLOOD THIS WAY" and being that we couldn't ask for direction we were almost quite literally stuck. After a while I took the wheel of the car because Percy might have been from Texas where everything is bigger, but I was from California where the roads and streets were—not similar but familiar—to the layout of this place. We tried Queens, we tried Elmont, we tried several parks, Garden City, Baldwin, Woodmere, Inwood, Woodsburgh. After three tiresome days of searching we ended up on Long Island, about to give up.

"Grover said it would be here," Percy sighed heavily, he looked nearly like that fragile being I had seen back in the hospital room all those weeks ago. I opened my mouth to say something when a figure in the woods caught my eye. I watched it closely and realized it was a little man. I tapped Percy on the shoulder and pointed towards the guy, he was looking around as if he'd lost something. Reaching into a bush he pulled out a vine of blueberries and quickly munched them down. We stared at him for a moment before Percy stood up and walked forward.

"Stay here," He whispered; he was quiet, his feet didn't even make a sound and I could only sit and watch. Mrs. O'Leary was growling low in her throat and I held her by the collar to keep her with me. I watched him reach around behind his back where he kept the holster of his 9mm and he unclipped it. The guy's head popped up at the sound of the latch undoing and he stared over in our direction. He was a little fellow, no much taller than me. But he was burly, big arms, a big torso, and his legs were almost a match. He had a baseball hat pulled down over his eyes so much so that I couldn't rightly see them but I had a feeling he was staring directly at me, then his un-seeable vision turned onto Percy by means of his head shifting from one direction to the other. Percy was barely half a yard away from him now and he held his gun up in the air by the barrel showing that he wasn't going to shoot. "Can you help us?" Percy asked and the guy looked at him, then back at me. "We're looking for Camp Halfblood, if you've heard of it?"

The guy opened his mouth to talk, but there was the faintest sound. A twig snapped, I held my breath as men emerged from the woods. Men of all colors and backgrounds but all with medium to bulky builds; it was a troop, more than fifteen less than thirty. They had a cache of weapons among them some with guns, others with bows and arrows and they were all strapped to the teeth with knives and bullets. Strangest of all about these men was that they were all on horseback. The man in front was of about middle years, and he was handsome. His hair was thick, and black but with the sun shining down on it brown was seen streaking throughout. His face was heavily stubbled and it covered his square jaw in about two weeks worth of growth. There were small, minute, barely there age lines at the corners of his coffee brown eyes. He held a hand up and the band behind them lowered their weapons. "Gleeson," He said and the guy with a mouthful of blueberries, and a bat against his shoulder that I was just now noticing, saluted mildly. "Alright?" The guy asked and the baseball toting, hat wearing man nodded.

"I don't think he was going to shoot, Chiron," Gleeson said turning his gaze to Percy. "There's another over there," He pointed at me and I felt my heart hammering. Mrs. O'Leary started barking in deep, menacing bellows, pausing every once in a while to bear her teeth and growl, and then resuming again, spittle flying from her open maws.

"You, back to your car," The newly proclaimed Chiron said pointing Percy over towards where I was. Percy looked as if he was about to protest but the guy notched an arrow at him and so he backed up till he was standing against the car. "Gleeson, you're relieved, Larry take over for him," A young looking guy jumped off of his horse and handed the reins to Gleeson who didn't look as if he quite liked the snorting beast. Finally the Chiron guy turned to face us, he had a strange look on his face as if he was considering something, eventually he said, "Where did you say you were headed?"

"What's it to you?" Percy growled angrily, he was standing in front of me with an arm extended out that prevented me from stepping around him. I'd never seen him so defensive before to anyone.

"Camp Halfblood," I volunteered, it was easier to just work while being pinpointed than to fight against it. Percy turned an eye on me that said I should have kept quiet but I returned it with one that said he was being dumb. Chiron jumped down from his horse, he was wearing a black shirt that said 'Party Ponies' across the front of it in white lettering and a loose pair of jeans held up by a belt.

"And just what do you know about Camp Halfblood?" He asked.

Percy looked like he was about to give a smart aleck remark so I grabbed him by the shoulder and put his arm down. Standing beside him I felt more like an equal than something that would be burdensome to protect. "We heard that it was a place for refugees," I said. "That there were people there," Chiron lowered his bow and put it on his shoulder, placing the arrow back in its quiver. He volunteered a small, dark, handsome smile.

"Oh, good," He said breathing what I took to be a sigh of relief. "Thought you might have been someone else," He laughed.

"Someone—what?" Percy said and Chiron smiled widely.

"There are some people who don't like the camp, they'd prefer we start rebuilding and begin plans for a new government instead of letting people live as they do at Halfblood," He extended his hand. "Chiron Mann, I'm—or, I was—a scientist," Begrudgingly, and by that I mean that after I elbowed him, Percy took the guy's hand.

"Percy Jackson, ex-Marine," He said. "This is my boyfriend, Nico," If that surprised Chiron he didn't let it show on his face, he turned and shook hands with me next.

"High school graduate," I laughed nervously to myself, compared to the military and science my diploma seemed a bit lacking. Chiron smiled wider.

"Well gentlemen, if you're looking for Camp Halfblood you've come to the right place," He motioned behind him to the woods and his party of pony riding men. "We've got a patrol up, if anyone passes through this way we know about it,"

"You guys live in the woods?" I asked, Chiron's smile turned a bit mischievous, the lights in his brown eyes started twinkling.

"We do," He said. "Why don't you grab a horse, we'll ride back," Gleeson gladly handed over his and Percy swung up onto the saddle without any trouble as if it were something he'd been doing his entire life. "You ride?" Chiron asked observing this very thing as Percy helped me up to ride pillion in front of him. He smiled at the guy for the first time, now that thoughts of immediate danger were over, but it was more of a challenging smirk than a smile.

"Yeah, I do," He said confidently, he squeezed his arms around me a bit. "What was with the third degree before? Why so many weapons?" Chiron shook his head.

"We've got to protect ourselves, it wouldn't be the first time the people after us used similar tactics against us," Percy's body tensed and I looked back at him, his eyes were searching Chiron's for any hint of danger, any hint of falsehood.

"Who's after you?" He asked. Chiron laughed.

"I like you, you ask questions," He said riding beside us, we followed his men through thicket after thicket of brush and trees, there was no worn path for us to follow. I wondered how they knew where we were going. "I used to be a professor a long time ago, makes me happy to see that even after everything there are still young minds out there searching for answers." I looked around, all the guys around us were relatively young like Chiron, no one was older than fifty and no one was younger, I'd say, than twenty-five.

"But who—" Percy was going to say but the trees finally broke and we were presented by a glorious sight. Before us was what Summer camps dreamed they could be: awesomeness incarnate. There were sixteen cabins all around the entire place, along with a three huge pavilions. There were climbing walls and canoes, there were campfires, there were hang gliders and zip lines, there were jet skis and if I wasn't mistaken there was a shack filled with inner tubes beside those. I blinked because I hadn't been expecting an actual camp like this, maybe a few destitute people huddled together with tents but nothing like this. People—young people, people my age and younger—walked around laughing and playing and shoving and living. We were, at least I was, astounded.

This place was incredible. "I'm sure you guys are tired," Chiron said. "Most of the cabins are full but I can outfit you two with one of the newly erected ones, breakfast is usually at sun up, lunch is at noon, and dinner's at dusk. If you're hungry we've got some stuff leftover but I'm afraid the kitchen will be closed for a few more hours,"

"That's…that's fine," I answered when I saw that Percy wasn't going to.

"Indeed," Chiron swung his leg over his horse and plopped down. Without saying anything one of the other men came and took it by the reins. Percy helped me off and then jumped down, landing with a soft thud. The man motioned for us to follow him and being at the disadvantage of not knowing the lay of the land we did just that. "So where're you guys from?" He asked amicably.

"From the West Coast," Percy said, I thought it sounded a bit mysterious but he threw me a look that was just asking for me not to say anything. I nodded.

"Oh?" Chiron asked. "We used to have camps like all around the country, they were set up to help people," He told us as we passed some kids getting their faces painted, Mrs. O'Leary was at my heels now and she wasn't sure how to handle all these people. She might have growled but Tyson hung by the neck from her teeth. He looked rather perturbed. Quickly I grabbed him and he climbed unhappily up to my shoulder where he draped himself around me like a mink scarf. "When the virus reached its last stage, however, more people started dying out and most of the camps were closed down. This one is the last of its kind," We stood outside of a looming cabin, the walls were a concrete gray, the same gray as the sea during a storm, but they didn't seem to be nearly as rough as concrete. It had stairs leading up to a wooden door and alabaster columns that looked as if they held up the flat side of a triangular Greek-esque roof. The cabin itself was long, like a trailer but longer still. It extended at least thirty-five feet outward; I wasn't sure if it could really be called a cabin as big as it was. "Here you guys go, we can talk more tomorrow. I'm sure you've got a million questions, but I've got duties around here I need to get done," He smiled, he had a very disarming nature and he seemed to be at ease at all times. I think I liked Chiron as a person, the way he presented himself at least.

"Yeah, thanks," Percy said and our guide turned as quickly as he had come. He stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, one more thing, don't roam around at night. We've got a curfew instated; no one's to be out past midnight," Suddenly his face looked very dark as if he words were gospel. I grabbed Percy's hand, it took a lot to creep me out but this guy, his eyes were old. Ancient, even, the hollows of his cheeks were suddenly highlighted and as the sun travelled down out of the sky I knew that I wouldn't be caught dead outside after midnight. "Night, boys," He walked away, I had not really noticed before but Chiron was a tall man. I guess standing next to me everyone looked tall, but with him moving away I could really see it now.

"I hope Grover knew what he was talking about," Percy said suddenly, I swallowed some saliva to wet my throat. Suddenly it was very dry.


	10. Chapter 10

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Ten:** Elucidation

The inside of our cabin was pretty bare, considering. There was a set of bunk beds and a desk, besides that it was empty. The walls were painted a nice navy blue color and the floors were made of a sandy colored oak that was sealed and varnished to sock-sliding perfection; there were big windows that let in a lot of the morning light and really it was nice, if not empty. That Chiron guy did say they had just constructed it. That night, though, a bed was a bed and I slept just fine.

When I woke up I was surprised to find Percy was already up, he wasn't up and out of bed yet but he was laying there staring up into the ceiling at nothing. He had a look of great consternation, as if the gears in his head were turning obscenely fast and yet he wasn't yielding the resulting ideas all the effort that his thinking should have brought forth. His concentration was so great that I was afraid to distract him; I tried to keep my breathing regular and didn't shift more than was necessary. However, I moved my feet around under the cover unintentionally and he blinked; it was like he was coming back into the world from somewhere distant and unreachable. He looked down at me and smiled serenely all look of concentration falling away as if it had never been there, "Mornin', darlin',"

"Good morning," I said still scrutinizing his face. He kissed my forehead and hugged me to the crook of his right side, between the two of us I wished then and there I could wake up like that every morning. "What were you thinking about so hard?" I asked curiously.

I knew Percy was lying before the words even left his mouth, "Nothing," He said in a placating voice. "Just thinking," He grabbed my ass playfully and I took that as incentive to crawl on top of him and straddle his hips, he was trying to distract me.

"I know you were thinking about something," I felt myself grin. "Tell me," Percy rocked my hips back and forth manually and I could feel him slowly becoming more and more erect underneath me as he did.

"What do I get if I tell you?" He asked, eyebrow raised quizzically. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what his reward would have been when there came a knock at the door, then, without warning, it opened. Chiron strode in with a small smile on his lips that lighted the dimples of his face in a complimentary manner; but, when he saw our compromising position, however, the smile lessened and he averted his eyes.

"Sorry," He said stopping in front of us; I could feel my face flaring. "I'm interrupting something, aren't I?" I climbed off of Percy and sat beside him on the bed. My cheeks felt like they were on fire as I used the bedding to cover myself as best I could.

"Little more warning next time, dude," Percy said pulling on the boxers that were on the floor. When he shimmied them quickly up his legs he turned and met Chiron's gaze as it was back on us now that we were decent, kind of. "What's up?" He asked walking around the bed and standing in front of me, obscuring my vision of our guest. I was beginning to notice that Percy stood between me and a lot of things. Wolves, lightning, hurricanes, and most recently people. Did I really need such protecting? Before I could answer that question myself our host smiled warmly.

"I didn't mean to intrude on your alone time," Chiron said. "It's just that they're serving breakfast now and I know you two are new and might've missed it." He stood comfortably before us, his left hand held in his right one with his forefingers making a steeple underneath his bearded chin in a very scholarly pose. "Besides, this must all seem…different for you. I want to learn a little more about where you came from and I'm sure you want to know all about the camp,"

Percy nodded, "Are there showers?" He asked.

"Of course, just down the way," Chiron pointed in a direction past the door, "close to the lake, you can't miss them. If there's nothing else, I hope I'll see you two at breakfast?"

"Yeah, we'll be over, I…I want to talk to you about some stuff, just a few questions," I looked at Percy's back but he didn't turn to face me. Questions? Questions like what?

"Till then," The man turned.

"Wait!" I called after him, two pairs of eyes landed on me, this morning Percy's eyes were sea-green and Chiron's were their same warm chocolate they had been before, I felt even more naked under their gazes were it possible considering my current state of nudity. "Um…thanks, for letting us stay here." I figured I'd much rather thank him now than later in front of a large group of people. People made me nervous, was that something I had never mentioned before? I'm sure you'd gleaned it between all of my introspections and revelations on the past. But, even when there were tons of them all over the place I had avoided them like the plague, and then when they got the plague I avoided them even more. Percy had guessed I was antisocial to some extent, not for the reason that I thought I was better than anyone else or anything, I just simply couldn't help it. Still, he had no idea how bad I was. He was also the one exception to that rule of unsociability, then again, circumstances withstanding, I'm pretty sure Percy was an exception to a lot rules somewhere. So just for me to say thanks to this unknown, but seemingly friendly, man was difficult; the thought of people being present whilst I did it was even less appealing.

"Not a problem," He said with a smile. "It's our solemn duty to take people in who need homes," He didn't appear to have anything else to add because he left; Percy sat on the bed. I touched his arm and he looked over at me, behind his eyes I could see pensiveness and maybe irritation. He laid his head in my lap and I petted his hair.

"What's wrong?" I asked, I won't say I was _happy_ something seemed like it was wrong or bothering him but it was nice to be the one to ask that particular question. Made me feel a bit more validated in the relationship; the fact that he needed me again was refreshing, if not selfish. He stared up at me and I tried to look as reassuring as possible, I probably failed miserably but to supplement I leaned down and pecked his lips lightly. "Tell me?"

"This," He started and for a moment I thought he meant what was happening between us, our little exchange. "this is weird." He motioned around the cabin. "Don't you get a strange vibe from this place? From that guy?"

"Chiron?" I asked and I looked to the door, then back down at Percy. "No, not really. But I was never that great at reading people," Percy, however, did not look convinced. "Let's get some food in you, you always feel better when you eat," I said, I had been running my fingers through his now incredibly short hair, scratching my fingernails gently over his scalp. I think he was enjoying it as his eyes had been closed and a general look of comfort had settled over his face. Percy laughed.

"Okay, mom," He sat up. "Breakfast first, then shower? Or shower then breakfast?"

"Shower," I answered, "I'm hungry but I'm sure we reek," Percy waggled his eyebrows and I laughed. He leaned in and kissed me, I felt him pushing us backwards onto the bed.

"Shame we won't get to finish what we started," He said warmly in my ear. I gripped onto him tightly and pressed my lips hard against his, when we pulled back he was chuckling in a low, husky timbre that made my blood run to the lower extremities of my body. "God, I love you Nico."

"Love you too," I said kissing his neck hungrily, biting and nipping him. It was his fault for turning me on, he knew how I was. Percy just laughed and kissed me again, when he pulled away I found the chill of not having his body pressed against mine almost hurt. Sitting up I watched him and he gave me a warm smile.

"Don't look at me like that," He said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like I just broke your heart, Neeks, we've got to eat eventually." I hadn't realized I was giving such a look. I tried to rearrange my face into a more presentable visage but he laughed again. "Now you look like you're in pain or something," Then I scowled. "There we go, that's the Nico I know and love,"

"I'm going to get a shower; I suggest you do the same, but don't expect it to be with me," I stood up but quickly remembered that I was completely unclothed, and thusly my erection was that much easier to see. Percy laughed again and I sank into the bed, piling blankets and sheets all over myself; I groaned very unhappily and glared at him, "I hate you,"

He kissed my forehead for the second time that morning, "You're so cute," Grabbing my briefs off the floor he tossed them to me and I quickly pulled them on, then a pair of jeans magically landed on top of my head. I didn't grumble or complain about him throwing articles of clothing my way, instead I just pulled those on too. He turned back towards me and grabbed me by my hips. "Let's go,"

"Wait, what?" The next thing I knew I was being hoisted into the air where I was quickly slung across Percy's shoulder. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked irately as he started walking us towards the door. I realized something: even with pants on I was still half-naked which is more than I can say for Percy who was strutting around in his undershorts. I squirmed but his arm was strong around my waist, successfully locking me onto his shoulder. We stepped out into the warm Summer air and stopped. I could hear the chatter of people all around us and it was weird because it was normal, there were birds singing in the air and the smell of a campfire was almost enough to make me nostalgic. Percy set me down in front of him and together we really looked at the camp for the first time.

There were lots of people, more than I could properly describe to anyone. People of every creed, nationality and background it looked like. Some people stared up at us and waved, others glanced in our direction and just continued on with what they were doing. Kids, ones younger than their teens, were actually using this place like a real Summer camp. There was archery and canoeing, and there was basket-weaving and what looked like arts-and-crafts, they were making lanyards. I supposed that you had to keep the kids entertained. But, they weren't the only ones doing things, there were men chopping logs—firewood, I guessed. There were people flooding in and out of the cabins back and forth, it was all just a bustle of activity.

Something caught my eye, well, something caught both of our eyes just in two completely different ways. This something, however, was about five-foot-five and blonde with even blonder highlights streaking throughout. This something also had big, blue eyes and full pouty, rosy lips. This something was rail thin and yet had, what I'd guess, was a large 'B' cup or a small 'C'. She had legs that went on forever, stalks as silky and smooth as untainted sand—the pretty kind that hasn't ever even been walked on and has been kissed by the sun for so many years that its a permanent golden brown color. She was gorgeous, and she stopped in front of our cabin with a big smile on her face. Her lips were distractingly pink as her white teeth were revealed from behind her mouth; I looked over at Percy.

Surely enough he was staring, it could have been the fact that her shorts were what constituted the phrase "daisy-dukes" or that her shirt was pulled up and tied into a knot revealing her firm and toned stomach, either way I elbowed him and he blinked, then he looked at her, then back to me and he smiled sheepishly. I rolled my eyes.

"Hi!" The girl said. "You must be the new guys, my name's Silena," She walked up the few steps that led to the front door where we were.

"Nico," I told her.

"What a lovely name," She grinned in an amiable, attractive kind of way. "And…who's this?" Suddenly I didn't like the look in her eyes, there was a glint there, a spark of interest. Unconsciously, or completely consciously—whatever, I stepped in front of Percy.

"This is Percy, my boyfriend," I had never called him that before. In fact, when he told Chiron that I was _his_ boyfriend the other day it was the first time we had ever labeled what and who we were to each other. Silena, however, did not seem at all dissuaded by the information as she extended a hand out to him and Percy took it dumbly, nodding and smiling.

"Is he always so eloquent?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of him.

"No, usually he's charming and couth. Come on Percy we've got to get washed up, remember?" I said taking the hand they were shaking. I began to pull him, "It was nice meeting you Silena,"

"Oh! No, don't go yet, I wanted to talk to you two," She followed in step behind us. "See, I'm one of the…well, we've just called ourselves camp counselors up till now." She smiled. "I help keep everything in order with most of the kids and stuff. I've only got one other cabin under my watch," She pointed to one that was painted an off pink, almost beige. It had shrubbery and rose bushes decorating it and ivy growing up the sides in an imitation of lavishness. "But, Chiron said since you guys were the only ones in here I'd be in charge of anything you might need, like schedules for when we have events or just information in general I guess, feel free to ask me,"

"Thanks," Percy said, suddenly guarded again at Chiron's name. He had snapped out of the stupor that blondie had so suddenly put him in. I wanted to know what his deal was about Chiron, we hadn't even been here for a full day and he was acting weird. But, I realized that jealousy had been licking its way through my chest for the brief few seconds we had known and ogled Silena. "When is breakfast over?"

"In about half an hour, I think," She answered looking at the bright, blue morning sky as if it had the answer for her. "But you should hurry, the kitchen will close and they won't be making anymore more food till about noon,"

Percy opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, then he closed it and grabbed me by the hand. "Alright, yeah, thanks," He said with a small smile. "Come on, Nicky, let's go grab a quick shower," I nearly jumped at the opportunity to leave, I don't think I liked the feeling of jealousy, it was constricting and polluting and made me feel like a horrible person.

"Nice to meet you," I said again over my shoulder as Percy pulled me along, trying to sound like I liked her better than I actually did.

"You too," She said nicely and I felt bad suddenly. Maybe she hadn't been checking Percy out; I really didn't know how to read people after all and this was new to me. I had to readjust, no, I had to be better than I had been around people. Soon Silena melted away into the crowd of others who I hadn't had the pleasure to meet yet while Percy walked us to the shower, even though neither one of us knew where it was per se. He had a pretty strong grip around my hand.

"Hey," I said to him, he was in deep thought again. "What's going on with you? Are you feeling okay?" I had enjoyed his brooding this morning, but it was my job to be the broody one, not his. He looked back at me; I could see uncertainty in his eyes.

"Just a bad vibe," He said and his eyelids fluttered closed. We stopped. "I don't know, this place just feels weird to me." Percy shook his head and for a few seconds he was quite. "Sorry," He finally decided. "I'm just being dumb, come on."

"Percy…" I said which is where he flashed a don't-worry-about-me smile my way. "we can talk about it, if you want to?" Now, normally I don't like talking things through. Generally my rule is: if you can't tell there's a problem, then there's probably isn't one. A rule I would come to know better from Percy as: if it ain't broke don't fix it. But, he got such a serious look over his face any time one of the people from the camp came to talk to us. Granted they held us at gunpoint before they let us in, but still.

"There's nothing to talk about, Nicky," He pulled me closer and kissed my cheek. Percy knew that physical contact was a sure fire way to make my mind hazy and he used that to his advantage. I quite quickly put aside my minor discomfort of his darkened mood and followed along obligingly the rest of the way. The ground underfoot was gravel so our footsteps were quite loud, but after a while the path wound behind the cabins—all of which were decorated differently. Some more functionally than others; for instance one cabin was all black with huge Grecian pillars and a stereo-system that was playing Rock-N-Roll loudly as we walked by while, another less elaborate cabin seemed to have a garden of food growing in front of it, tomatoes, potatoes, everything. Hell they even had wheat and corn. Eventually we got close to an overly large lake where we found big bathhouses about twenty feet from the embankment of water and actual signs above the entrances that denoted male and female bathing areas.

Inside it was steamy, but there were lockers for us to put our clothes and a few towels hanging up before you entered into the actual shower part of the whole ordeal. After what I considered a quick shower (ten minutes) and some _very_ heavy petting we stepped out again, dried off, and re-clothed. Percy looked cute with his hair spiked straight up as it was considering he had been rubbing the towel over his head, of course never out loud would I voice how _cute_ I thought he looked, but I think he got the idea from the way I kept staring and smiling. We tossed our towels in a large hamper that stated it was to be used for such things and then he took my hand and we walked back to the greater part of the camp.

When I got my first up close glimpse at everyone I found that most of them were watching me back and suddenly I was afraid that being here, in this place, would make me revert back to my old loner self. I liked that person, I was _still_ that person, but it felt like I was much more out of my shell now and I like this person even better. But, eyes of every color followed us as we closed in on one of the pavilions we'd seen earlier—the smell of food wafting out of it let us know that it had to be the cafeteria—and I grew more and more self-conscious and withdrawn. Percy's hand was like an anchor of strength because it took all I had not to go bolting from there, I didn't know these people and a part of me said I didn't want to. There weren't too many who looked like they wanted to get to know me either, but as we entered the cafeteria (which was filled up with long wooden tables and backless benches, a serving line, and what I'm guessing were complimentary lunch ladies, well, some of them were men) Chiron's smiling face and motioning hand brought us over to him.

"Better late than never," He said about our lack of punctuality, I gave a small, awkward chuckle but Percy didn't so much as volunteer a smirk. "Go, eat, then we can talk." We took our leave of him and went to the serving line. Quickly plates were piled up with scrambled eggs, bacon, homemade toasted rolls, ham, and fruits and suddenly my stomach realized how long it had been since I'd had actual food. I felt my mouth water and greedily thought of seconds before I had even started on my firsts.

"This looks…"

"Really good," Percy finished my sentence. We looked at each other and then amazedly back down at the smorgasbord of delicious items. The eggs even had cheese on them, the ham was huge, and the bread was buttery. My stomach growled so loudly it was audible over the small hum of other people's conversation. Percy took that as initiative to make our way back over to Chiron and we sat in front of him without him asking us, or inviting us, to.

"Hope you guys find everything to your liking?" He asked. We both nodded. "I'm glad."

"How do you guys get this stuff?" I asked pushing a rather hot bite of cheesy, fluffy egg into my mouth hungrily.

"We have some campers here who are rather adept at growing and harvesting crops, and others who aren't half bad at raising animals. There's a field not too far from here we use as a sort of impromptu farmland. Cows, chickens, goats, anything you can think of we've got up that way." Chiron took a sip of something that smelled suspiciously like coffee. "It's quite the little life we've formed for ourselves here," He said proudly, the crinkle lines at the sides his eyes scrunched together when he smiled.

"Is that why you held us up when we first arrived?" Percy asked with a mouthful. "You don't seem like the peaceful sort to me with as many firearms as you have,"

Our host didn't miss a beat, "Those are all things that people have brought with them from their own journeys here," He assured us. "I seem to recall you had a pistol of sorts of your own?"

"That's different its for—"

"Protection?" Chiron asked. "Yes, we all like to stay well protected, Percy. We don't know if the people that come through here will be sane or not, it takes a lot out of someone mentally to go so long without human interaction and then to have it thrust back upon them so wholly," He was looking at me when he finished speaking and I found my own vision staring down at my half finished breakfast. Chiron's eyes were analytical, when he stared at me it felt like he was breaking me down to my most core of elements and that all my secrets came spilling out before him.

"You're a psychologist?" Percy asked.

"I'm a man of science," Chiron answered. "Psychology, sociology are behavioral and the human mind is fascinating but I was more adept at chemistry and other natural sciences. Before the outbreak I was a professor at Cornell, but I toured around the world and taught at some of the most astute universities of our time," He sipped more coffee. "I came here when I was assigned to this place by the Administrator of the EPA, it was my job to help those of us who were well enough to survive do just that. This camp was placed so far in-woods because we couldn't just have anyone walking here. At first we tested people for the illness and the ones who didn't test positive were flown to several locations like this one throughout the United States, there were radio broadcasts sent out telling people that there were camps like this available to those of us who were well," Which explained how Grover had heard about this place, "but the virus became worse as time went on and we became more and more full, every last safe haven till finally…you two know the rest, I'm sure,"

The rest? Yeah, everyone died.

"If you're so smart why weren't you and the other scientists trying to create a cure?" Percy asked.

Chiron's face darkened, his brows drew together and his eyes grew tight as if the question offended him. I watched several responses play through his head before he decided on what to say next, "Were it only so easy," He replied. "It was an advanced string of RNA, different parts influenza, different parts polio, and so many of the things that have plagued us over centuries, even chicken pox culminated into it to a small degree. As it unraveled it only became more violent. The virus was unlike anything we had seen up until this point, a super disease."

Percy didn't look much better than Chiron by this point, he was on the verge of another question when he closed his mouth and thought of a better way to phrase it, "How…" He started. "What made it come about? What caused it, the virus?" I could see so many inquiries in his eyes, so many unanswered questions. His face held only the expression of determination; he wanted to know so much. It wasn't enough that he got to the place he and his friends had set out to.

"It was probably born the same way most others are, somewhere just warm enough for the germs and bacteria to breed till it was strong enough to pull compatible genetic codes from other viruses." He shrugged, but his eyes were still dark. "Either way, its life expectancy only seemed to be a few months, but in that time billions had already died. It spread through saliva, which made it a deadly enough "kissing" virus like mononucleosis, but it also lived for hours outside of the body. So touching door knobs and then rubbing your eye without properly washing your hands was a sure way to have gotten it," He shook his head. "Of course, its dead now. My guess is that the virus can't survive without a living host, as it was not airborne and did not pass from person to person just because someone coughed in the same room as you. I think that through what small amount of exposure most of us had to it we've built up an immunity now either way,"

I sighed. This was some dark stuff to have laid on you so early in the morning, and that meant a lot coming from the guy who loves dark stuff. There was, however, a difference between this real-life type thing and the creatures that had been on the Mythomagic cards I'd collected what seemed like ages ago. Dorky as it was those cards had been helpful for me, even if I couldn't find anyone else who played that ostracizing game. It took a lot of effort and money and time to build up your deck and having a social life just did not mix with getting Ultra Rares and Holographic cards, which was perfect for the already sorry state of my social life. But, now was not the time to be reminiscing on times gone by. As a slightly more mature version of myself I figured Mythomagic was pretty dumb, especially since most of my energies went elsewhere now and I would have rather been making-out with Percy than putting together a SkeleZombie deck.

After a beat of silence Percy looked like he was ready to continue his line of questions, Chiron graciously waited for him to formulate more. He really did seem like the professor type, or at least the type who liked to teach and profess. "Are we free to leave this camp?" He asked.

"Of course," Chiron said. "You would understand if we did not allow you to return, however? You don't trust us and so we can't trust you," He smiled when Percy looked like he was about to protest, "Shakespeare said, ' _let every eye negotiate and trust no agent'_."

"Are you saying we _can_ ' _t_ trust you?" I asked.

"No," Chiron laughed heartily. "I only meant that we both mutually have to give it to each other."

" ' _The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them'_ , " Percy quoted.

"Hemingway," Chiron said with a look of amusement. "I'm not his biggest fan, but that also rings true in this situation. You're a bright young man," He looked at me. "Both of you are, I can see the intelligence in your eyes; I believe we'll all get along brilliantly,"

"I have one more question then, if we're all friends now?" I looked over at my boyfriend—then I felt my cheeks grow red with that thought; I still wasn't quite used to it, _my_ boyfriend. Something was more relaxed about his face now, his brow wasn't pulled together in frustration and unknowing anymore considering that some of his queries had been answered.

"Yes?" Chiron asked.

"Who are the people that are supposedly after you? The ones you said you were protecting yourselves from?" Chiron leaned forward conspiratorially, he whispered as if the walls themselves had ears.

"Some very political people, Percy," He undertoned. "Nothing for you all to worry about for now, but like I said yesterday there are those who would prefer even in this time of chaos and disarray for there to be governing powers and to tax the untaxable and destitute people of this place," He sighed heavily and sat back. "I've opposed them for a while now, they get close to the camp every now and then, but never close enough to discover us. I don't know what they would do if they ever found us." Seconds that seemed like eons passed after that, then, as if to break the tension, Chiron spoke again. "Anymore questions?"

I was pretty much done with my breakfast. I'd eaten all of it but about half of my ham, Percy looked as if he wanted another helping though. "Can he have seconds?" I asked and again Chiron laughed, nodding.

"Of course, I held breakfast this long just so you two could eat. Lunch will probably be starting as soon as we're all cleaned up here, take as much as you want." I wasn't very hungry anymore after having wolfed down about a pound and a half of food.

Percy looked torn between getting up and staying, finally he said, "Okay. Last question, I promise," Chiron motioned for him to ask it by rolling his hand forward in front of him as if saying, _well out with it_. "The curfew, last night you seemed pretty adamant about that." Adamant, creepy, same thing, right?

"Ah, yes. The curfew is necessary because we have the Party Ponies on guard while everyone sleeps, wouldn't want any incidents happening, would we? We wouldn't know the difference between a kid sneaking around to someone else's cabin and an intruder simply because of how dark it is."

"Party Ponies?" I asked.

"A group of ex-military boys we have around here. Really it keeps them busy; most of them miss their families so much considering that the government only pulled their squadrons back because of the state of affairs the world was in. It was better to have our troops on our own soil than anywhere else. Most of these guys were stationed in areas around here, however, and couldn't make it back home when the Mist broke out,"

"Ex-military," Percy blinked, his eyes were far away again.

Chiron smiled, "That's right. You used to be a Marine, right?" Percy nodded. "Maybe after a little while I'll introduce you to them. The ones on duty at night generally sleep in during the day." Chiron looked down at his watch. "Oh, I really have to go. But, boys, if you have any more questions I'm here to answer them. We'll induct you into the camp soon enough, this isn't a place where you can just lounge around. I expect that you'll help with maintaining it? Taking little odd jobs to help keep the community running?" We both nodded. "Excellent. Well, I've got to go, and next time I want to come into your cabin I'll let you answer the door first" There was a small laugh between us as he referenced this morning's faux pas; Chiron stood and with a smile he left.

"Feel better?" I asked Percy as soon as Chiron was gone.

"A little, I think I was just paranoid," He smiled. He grabbed his plate and got up piling it up with more food and I figured whatever he didn't finish we'd give to the animals. When he sat again I leaned against him.

"Good, maybe you'll relax before we actually have to start doing work around here,"

"If by "relax" you mean finish what we started this morning, then I believe I'm up for that," He grinned, a grin which I returned.

"Yee-haw, Cowboy," I laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Note: Posted with Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Eleven:** Green-Eyed

Working at the Camp was a task in and of itself. "Doing your part" for the community was a lot harder than I thought it would have been. Cleaning out all the huge cabins, dusting and beating the rugs, washing laundry by hand, tending to the gardens, keeping the animals fed and watered, there was _a lot_ to do. Of course, it didn't fall on one person's shoulders to do every day, schedules were interchanged, people had days off, but generally there was a work ethic all around and everyone seemed much happier for it.

Today I was on kitchen duty, which meant that I, along with a few others, made food for the entire camp. Luckily the time spent with my grandparents had gone to learning how to make stuff that tastes good, the only problem up till now was that I hadn't really known where to get the ingredients and even had I got them I wouldn't have had the proper setting to actually cook. Then, when I finally did start finding places with working ovens I was a bit too distracted to do any real cooking. The kitchen itself was comprised of two stoves, two large refrigerators, a deep freeze, prep tables, and a huge island in the middle, one that had pots and pans, spoons and ladles, and a lot of bowls hanging from hooks and placed on shelves.

My distraction Percy had it harder than I did, Percy looked like the kind of guy who enjoyed spending his time cutting fields and baling hay, waking up at dawn to retrieve eggs from the hen house and travelling to the water treatment facility to help regulate the camp's clean drinking water, and so he had been doing. Of course, I say he had it worse just because I would have hated to do any of that but he didn't seem to mind.

"Nico, watch your sauce its starting to boil," I looked at one of my saucepots, the red pasta sauce with the cilantro and other spices in it was indeed beginning to boil. I turned it down and then did the same with the others, putting them on a low simmer. I looked over at my co-cooks; Carter Kane was the one who had informed me just a moment ago that I was about to overcook the sauce. Carter was an attractive guy, mixed with Black and White his hair was a mess of short tangles that stopped at the back of his neck. His warm black eyes were full of intelligence; he had a sort of fiery passion for knowledge that seemed to burn with his every little motion as if he could simply absorb education through touch. He had been asking me all sorts of things since we began and they found out I sort of knew what I was doing. I was trying my best to recall time spent in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother, it wasn't going horribly so far.

"I'm bloody tired of kneading this," His sister, Sadie, was making the noodles per my instructions. She was kneading the dough, flouring it lightly, then we would flatten it, shape and cut the noodles and let them dry. Of course, when my grandmother did it she had flair; I can remember her stretching the dough and twirling it, and making so much pasta that there would have been leftovers for weeks. Except, in Italy if you have more than enough you share with your entire neighborhood. I looked over at her, she was a pretty girl. Where Carter had skin that was the same color as walnut Sadie's was almost a vanilla mocha. Her lightly colored hair was a mix of blonde and brown, streaks of blue ran through several strands giving her almost a glam-rock appearance in my opinion. She had the brazen attitude for it.

"It's not that hard, we've already made a ton of noodles, that's the last batch," Carter answered her. The two of them were night and day, not to mention Sadie's English accent. I hadn't asked about it but it didn't sound fake, I could honestly believe she was from London, or York, or Worcestershire, or anywhere in England really as I wasn't the best at picking out dialects.

"Well, brother dear," She said the endearing term almost as if it were an insult to Carter's intelligence, "if you're so adamant about how easy it is why am I doing this while you're simply buttering bread?" It was true that her brother was buttering freshly risen garlic bread, but considering that he'd just _made_ the bread from scratch as well I didn't see such a problem with it. Carter sighed in the way that only an older brother with a very demanding younger sister could and he switched places with her. I watched on, a small smile on my face. These two were very easy to get along with, Sadie in smaller doses but I'm sure she always meant well. I had met quite a few of the campers, there were _a lot_ of people. More than I had first imagined and I had no idea how anyone could keep up with so many people but I would try, even if I really didn't talk to them much. "Oi, Angel-boy," I looked over at Sadie who was obviously trying to get my attention. When she asked me about my last name I told her the translation of it from Italian, which was 'of Angels' and the nicknames had subsequently followed. "What are you smirking at?"

"What?" I asked.

"You're smiling, like you've just heard a joke or something, out with it, then." She was washing her hands now, removing all the dusty flour and trying desperately to get it out from underneath her fingernails.

"Oh," I felt my face fall, how did I explain that I simply found their little exchange amusing? "I don't know, just smiling I guess."

"Right." She said as if she didn't believe me. "The only time I've ever really seen you smile was around that other bloke, the tall, good looking one."

"Good looking?" Carter asked, looking up from his kneading.

"Oh come off it Carter, you've seen him." Sadie smiled. "He's tall and he's got those eyes," She looked over at me as if I understood. The thing was, I did. Oh, how well I understood.

"I've got eyes," Carter said, clearly not getting it. "Everyone's got eyes,"

"Nico, you have to figure that my brother is rather dense. He had no idea you and Percy were an item, even after we saw you snogging underneath that tree;" At this I blushed rather fiercely, she and Carter had caught us. It had been almost after hours and the Summer rain had taken us by surprise. Percy, being Percy, thought it the perfect opportunity for a little "snogging" as Sadie had put it. Of course, there just happened to be a group of people walking by at the exact same moment. "Not to mention," She continued, "the only girl Carter's ever liked still treats him like their just friends even after the hell we went through to get here and if he would ever find the courage to ask her out I'm sure he would do a bloody good job of botching that all to pot,"

"Sadie!" Carter's face darkened, which made me chuckle slightly.

"You're in love with Zia, Carter, you know it, I know it. Everyone on the whole planet knows it but her because you won't tell her!"

"I think it's time to flatten and start chopping the noodles," I decided to give Carter a small reprieve from his embarrassment. He gave me a very thankful glance and pulled out a rolling pin. When we finally finished making lunch it was almost time to start serving it. We had already prepared breakfast earlier that morning and that felt like it had only been a few hours ago because in truth it _had_ only been a few hours ago. Cooking for an entire camp of people took a lot of time and effort, and there was still dinner to be made.

After a while we had something that resembled pasta and I wiped the sweat off my eyebrow. The kitchen always got hot when there was a lot of activity going on in it. Carter pulled out the golden brown garlic bread he had been working on since we'd decided that it would be a spaghetti night, it looked really good. Sadie took the lid off the saucepot and the smell of deliciously boiled tomato sauce filled the air. My stomach growled and I remembered that I hadn't even eaten the breakfast we'd cooked. I had to brown some meat to put in the sauce to give it more flavor and texture but I swear I wanted to pick that pot up and just drink it down in a very barbaric sort of way.

Staving my Neolithic desire I grabbed a frying pan from the rack and sat it on a hot eye, then I went over to the station we had the ground meat unthawing at and set to work on making sure that it was thoroughly defrosted.

Now, this might all seem pretty common but you have to remember that we didn't have very much to work with. I didn't have very much to season the meat with and it wasn't deli-store quality but it was edible, it probably wouldn't taste half bad either. I brought the meat over, as it was in a big metal bowl, and dumped it into my huge pan where it quickly began to sizzle and fry.

"Smells good in here," I turned around to see three men coming in, Chiron, Percy and a rotund man named Dionysus—or "Mr. D. to you, punk." as he put it so eloquently. Mr. D had run this place back when it really was a Summer camp but had been placed under rank of Chiron once the outbreak had begun to spread. He didn't seem to mind his inferior position, if ever anyone had a question they went to Chiron not Mr. D., if ever there was something that needed special attention or if supplies were running low it was not Mr. D. but Chiron who oversaw and handled the situation.

"Hey, babe," Percy came over and I felt myself smiling when he pulled me close, it was an involuntary reaction when he was around sort of like blinking and breathing. "What's this?"

"Here," I grabbed a large wooden spoon and dipped it in one of the saucepots, blowing on it I handed it back to him. He took a sip of it and his eyes lit up, which made me smile a bit wider.

"You made this?" He asked looking as if he were about to dip the spoon again, which would have been very unsanitary. I quickly grabbed it from him and beat his hands away.

" _We_ all did," I said motioning to Sadie and Carter, the prior of which was doing her best imitation of the tomatoes we had squashed not too long ago.

"Well it's good," Percy smiled. "Hey Carter."

"Percy," They grinned at each other. Carter and Percy had met not too long ago when we had been exploring around the campgrounds. Carter had an affinity for basketball, well, he played about as well as I did—which was not well at all—except that he could sink some pretty impressive shots if he was trying hard enough. He and Percy had played a pick-up game together and he'd gotten pretty close to actually beating Percy with some last ditch effort throws.

"Hi, Sadie," Percy turned his attention to her, the girl was a few years younger than us but I could tell she had trouble around boys—not me or her brother, obviously, but _boys_. You know what I mean, not guys like me who she was the same height as, and who she outweighed by about ten pounds but _boys_. Tall, brawny, handsome and slightly rugged. Of course, Carter was all these things but they were brother and sister and in such relationships it's very difficult for the younger sibling to do little else but taunt, she mistook Carter for a hilariously unattractive individual—which, in her eyes he was _because_ he was her brother. It was funny though because the opposite was true in my opinion.

However; Percy was not her brother.

Now, you may be thinking, _Nico how could you_ not _get jealous of Sadie when you got jealous of Silena_? The answer was pretty simple, Silena was more…developed in some areas than Sadie, she was older and looked more experienced. Silena was well on her way into womanhood while Sadie was just reaching that awkward phase for girls. It might sound horrible because I compare them based on just looks alone, but I'm human. I can't help where my subconscious goes and I definitely can't help but thinking that Silena could imagine a lot more than just holding hands with Percy—something I'm pretty positive that Sadie, as brash and brazen a girl as she was, would fluster and back out of given the opportunity. Just standing in the same room as him she was silent, something I'm guessing did not happen often with her, I also knew that she was like this around quite a few of the older guys, one named Walt especially.

"H-hi," She managed out, blushing down to her neck and looking as if she were upset at herself for acting like she was, Sadie seemed like the kind of girl who preferred to be the conqueror not the conquered.

"Mm, I think I might put all three of you on permanent kitchen duty if this is any indication of your culinary skills," Chiron said after spooning a small helping of sauce into his mouth. I flipped the cooking meat and began browning the other side.

"I don't think we could handle that," I replied, hoping we didn't sound taxed and undeserving of his subtle praise.

"Besides," Carter interjected, "Nico did most of the cooking; he just told us what needed to go in what." I was about to say that it was pretty much just remembering what I'd learned from being in the kitchen with my mom and grandma but Chiron looked at his watch and alerted us that it was just about time to start serving.

"You guys are free till about an hour after lunch," He said with a small smile. "And don't worry; I was kidding about the kitchen duty for life business," I'm not exactly sure who breathed a bigger sigh of relief, me or Sadie, but she looked positively done with her role of chef for the day.

"Thank you!" She shouted, then she made a mad dash for the door.

"Where are you going?" Carter called after her but she didn't so much as look back at him. The tall young man sighed and shook his head in a gesture that meant he was used to his sister's flippant behavior. I heard Percy's rich laughter in my ear the next moment she was gone; I looked over at him.

"What's so funny?" I asked wondering what could have caused such a mirthful response from Carter's obvious brotherly suffering.

"She kind of reminds me of Annabeth," He said with a fond smile. "She doesn't take nothing from nobody," He grinned, I reined in a sudden flare of envy. Sadie, like I said, was years younger than us but so that comment shouldn't have rubbed me the way it did. But, when Percy compared her to the love of his life like that I was quite quickly reminded of the little green monster that lives inside all of us at times. My head began imagining things, things I knew would never come to pass, but I didn't like the images in my head of Percy and Sadie snogging, nor did I like what came next of her and Silena both entertaining him at the same time.

I did the only thing I could think to, do afraid he could see what was going on in my mind, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a hungry kiss, one of which the three other men in the room diverted their eyes.

"Kid, you gotta do that right here?" Mr. D. asked with a bit of disgust, but I ignored him and his sass, directing all my attentions on Percy. I let my hands dip low beyond his back and settled my hands around his buttocks, then I imagined myself grinning deviously and tried to make it come to match the expression earnestly though I felt nothing devious at all.

"Feeling frisky today, Nico?" Percy said, his eyes shining darkly now sending a shiver down my spine all the way to the soles of my feet. I had to keep control, not just of how his words could make me swoon all too easily but of my apparent jealous nature. I had never had a real reason to be envious before, never had anything to exactly call my own and selfishly I thought of Percy as mine. The fact that in the past few days he had shone interest in two girls (well, not really, but still) was enough to drive me to the extreme.

"Maybe you guys can head back to your cabin?" Carter's polite voice broke my lusty, and yet slightly panicked, haze; the egocentricities of thinking that Percy was solely mine had just caused not only me but Percy public embarrassment.

"I—" I began, an apology quickly forming on my lips.

"If you're headed that way, Percy, please make sure the two of you get here within the next few hours if you miss lunch. There are still a few horses that need shoeing and Nico's kitchen party has to start on dinner." Chiron consulted his ever handy clipboard, Mr. D. walked over to a refrigerator and pulled out a homemade bottle of wine, if there was anything he was good at it was fermenting grapes. He opened the bottle and tipped it to his lips slightly, he had obviously grown uncomfortable very suddenly, his drinking one of the many faults that were looked over since Chiron seemed empathetic about having taken over control of the man's camp—not that Mr. D. really minded.

"No, guys, I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know what came over me," I looked over at Percy, he was smiling stupidly. "Go shoe your horses,"

"It's not actually scheduled for another two hours," Chiron interjected before Percy could answer.

"But," Percy replied, pulling me into the circle of his arms. "I can show you the stables, if you want? You haven't been up that way yet have you?" I shook my head, aside from the occasional walk around coaxed out of my from Percy, the bathhouse, and the cafeteria I never really left the cabin.

"No," I said. "I haven't," I divided the meat up and put it in the four different saucepots, I then turned the eyes of the stove off and Carter came to help me stir it all together well.

"Well, Nico," Percy said after I put the spoon down, "I'll just have to teach you how to ride," Oh, that was _real_ subtle, no one, especially not the scholarly and Ivy League taught Chiron, was going to catch that. Alright, so I had forgotten that Percy did not believe in public embarrassment. At least he was saved from that much.

He grabbed my hand, I didn't fight it as he dragged me from the kitchen much to the amusement of the three other men standing there. It wasn't till we were safely on the campus with the sun brightly overhead and the bright green forest surrounding us did I actually try to say something, "Percy—"

"I know, I know," He chuckled. "I shouldn't have said that, but you're the one who kissed me like that," Even admitting this he did not stop our sudden trek towards the woods where a glen held a small, fenced in area that kept the horses separate from the rest of the camp a barn-house like stable was connected just to the right of it. "What was that about, anyway? Usually you don't get like that till after I suck your—" I clamped my hand over his mouth, cheeks burning.

"Yes, Perseus, I know when I usually get like that," I seethed, barring the fact that a group of people were passing us on our way to the horse pen I would have really preferred they not know my more private eccentricities.

"And you're not a PDA kinda guy," He observed, moving my palm away from his mouth, a smirk on his lips, one that said he was searching for something and that he _was_ going to find out what he wanted. "So what was that about?" I sighed as we moved more away from the more populated part of Halfblood and the crunch of twigs and leaves under my feet became a testament to the fact that we were moving through the woods. I remained quiet, Percy grabbed me by the waist and pulled me against him causing me to stumble a bit as we walked but he kept us steady. "Let's see," He continued to deduce. "What was going on in there, Carter was trying to call after Sadie, she ran out of the room I said she reminded me of Annabeth…"

I swallowed quietly, what would he say if he knew the truth? That when he mentioned _her_ I became horribly insecure, that with all the girls around I was beginning to feel like he was putting me on the backburner of his mind to ogle them. I mean, I suppose I felt a bit jealous when he looked at some of the guys too, especially when they played contact sports, but it was different with girls. I mean I don't think that Percy had any particular preference in guys, Grover had been his best friend before they had actually done anything, and that was under the most extreme of circumstances…and thinking about it I was an extreme circumstance as well.

"Was that it? You didn't like the comparison?" He asked, sometimes because of his easy way of speaking, that relaxed Southern drawl, I forgot how smart and perceptive Percy really was. Before I could answer we broke through the trees and the whinny of a horse caught my attention.

"He-yah!" I looked, Silena Beauregard, as Beauregard was her last name, was whipping the reins of a gigantic brown and white spotted horse, which was running around a makeshift course of barrels and poles at breakneck speed. Watching I felt my mouth fall open because not only was she handling the brute-of-a-steed like he was nothing but she looked like she was enjoying herself. Her button down plaid top and her ever present, incredibly short shorts gave her the appearance of someone who knew what they were doing; especially when that was all topped off by the leather boots she was wearing.

We had been here for a good week now, long enough to get to know people better—well, Percy got to know people, I was present at the time those people were introduced—and still I had not completely gotten over my possessive nature when she was around. I watched as she jumped a limbo pole, and pulled back hard on the reins as soon as they landed. "Whoa, girl," She said, clicking her tongue with her teeth bringing the horse to a slow canter and then stopping completely. She looked over at us and unintentionally I gripped onto Percy's hand. He leaned down and I felt his breath in my ear before he could actually whisper.

"You're jealous," His voice was singsong, if not hushed and breathy. I would have protested if Silena hadn't swung her long, long legs over the saddle and jumped down with a soft _plop_. Her boots plodded forward and she came to lean on the fence.

"Hey boys," She grinned prettily, with the sunlight overhead shining as brightly as it was there was an ethereal glow around her, highlighting her already blonde hair nearly white. Her baby blues were shimmering with humor and exhilaration and even with her sweating forehead she somehow managed to make attention drawn to the slightly unbuttoned area of her shirt where sweat was rolling down her soft, golden skin in beads. "Glad you made it back, Percy,"

"I wanted to show Nico the horses," He said walking past me, before he passed however his hand made solid contact with my backside causing me to jump and effectively breaking my reverie of Silena's near angelic quality.

"Oh?" She asked. "You ride, Nico?"

"I—no," I answered, in truth before we came I had never seen a horse this closely before. Percy grinned and grabbed my arm pulling me forward again.

"My stuff's still in the barn?" He asked and she nodded.

"Right where you left it, hombre," She giggled. I watched the exchange; it occurred to me that she was the one assigned to work with Percy today. They still had to shoe the horses later on after lunch, which meant they would be spending more time together. Percy pulled me along and I was quiet as I thought how much they seemed to have in common.

The next thing I knew I found myself on the side of a wall as we came upon a large shed, fingers were thrust through my hair and a hot mouth pressed against my lips. I blinked, surprised, but quickly melted into the kiss as if I hadn't been thinking depressingly only ten seconds before. I felt a throaty moan escape my lips as Percy ground down on me, my head swam suddenly; my vision was bleary, the only thing I could really see were the small freckles dotting his face because he was so close. He kissed me again and in one breath I lost all of my air, roughly my neck was bitten, then my collarbone. I fisted my fingers through his hair, grasping at him and rasping for breath as my entire body was so completely set on fire.

Lazily his tongue dragged up my neck, where he sucked and nipped and left little purple bruises otherwise known as hickeys on my easily impressionable skin. Now, you might think I was the submissive type from the way I reveled in his touch over the last few months but lately I had become adventurous, I was learning how I could use my near helpless, and contrastingly innocent sensuality to my advantage. I could harness the expressions on my face to facilitate my every need to take charge of certain situations, expressions that had certain affects on Percy. If I held my neck to a certain angle, half-lidded my eyes, and jutted out my bottom lip slightly it generally warranted lusty touches, if I bit my lip and closed my eyes while managing a throaty moan really I could get away with anything, even being jealous of certain peoples.

Of course, Percy had stronger suits in this game of cards we played called love, his hand was a royal flush compared to my straight. He could call my bluff if he so chose because he knew that I was only wearing the outer skin of an experienced person, then he would touch me in a way that was so new and breathtaking that every façade would drop and I would be frighteningly honest in my own skin. The terrifying truth was that I sometimes wondered if I could really satisfy him the way Annabeth had, if he could love me the way he loved her.

I would lay awake for hours wondering how I could be envious of a dead woman, how I could be so mad that she had Percy before I did, that she got to feel his love and see that special smile he gave me in the morning, how could I be so upset because even though she died Percy would always feel for her? It wasn't fair to Percy and it wasn't fair to Annabeth, nor to anyone else my mind surreptitiously put him with. Besides, I was being a hypocrite, it wasn't like Percy was jealous of the few guys who had talked to me at the camp, nor was he jealous of the girls. I just had to calm down. It wasn't them he was kissing, or waking up to, or holding. It was me.

That's why I felt so selfish, because truthfully Percy was mine, I could share aspects of him but in the long run the parts that really counted would always be mine.

He pulled back, "Guess what?" He asked, I blinked.

"What?" He pressed his lips to mine again sweetly before answering.

"You worry too damn much for your own good," Percy grinned from ear to ear. "Do you think I didn't see the look on your face when we first met her?" He inclined his head back to Silena, "or how you looked when I said Sadie reminded me of Annabeth?" I bit my lip in remonstration, knowing I was caught but not wanting to admit it. He pecked our lips together, "You're silly, did you know that? To think that after all this, after everything we've gone through that you're _still_ not worth my love is just…it's silly." I put my head on his chest as he hugged me closer. For a long moment I thought I was going to cry, but after a few stifling deep breathes I got myself under control.

"I'm sorry," I said for what felt like the millionth time.

"Don't ever be sorry for being you," Percy grinned, then he kissed the top of my head. "We can do this a hundred more times and I wouldn't get tired of it, because it's you Nico." I thought about that, when he said it it caused something akin to confidence to well up inside of me.

I was being childish, a reoccurring thing apparently, and I couldn't keep it up, I didn't want to. "I won't get jealous anymore," I said which earned an even bigger smile.

"Yes you will," Percy laughed. "But that's okay, it just means you love me too." I felt myself blush as we began swaying from side to side.

I tightened my arms around him, "Sometimes I'm just amazed that I actually can love anyone, let alone as much as do you," I shook my head. "I'm just glad you're patient,"

"I'm going to have to be, if I want to get you on a horse today," He grinned, stepping back. "Come on," We entered into the stable, for a long while there had been a sort of foul smell in the air—albeit a distant one. Upon opening the doors I found a rush of stench so strong it was almost crippling, the stable was exclusive to horses so when the odor hit my nose I found myself quite content that before this moment I had never met (i.e. smelled) a horse before. It was almost indescribable, pure animal, and completely off putting, the smell of lathery sweat mixed with feces all blended and sun-baked for hours in a nice convection such as the stable was, holding the stench in till the most opportune moment of our opening.

I gagged, Percy seemed unfazed. Then again, this was the kid who thought it was funny to fart and then pull my head under the blankets much to my chagrin; of course as hilarious as that was I thought it lost its appeal after the first time. Percy, on the other hand, seemed to feel otherwise.

"God, it's horrible in here," I remarked.

"You get used to it," Percy smiled pulling me forward by our interlaced fingers. "I know just the guy to start you off with," After passing a few stalls with stabled horses in them I realized how intelligent creatures of the equine variety were. They watched us with their gigantic eyes, they brayed and whinnied, flat front teeth fully present for me to see. I wasn't sure horses liked me too much. We stopped at an immaculate midnight colored stallion, he stood at least five feet off the ground, tossing his lustrous same-colored mane this way and that, stamping his foot and braying almost coherently. "This is Blackjack," Percy said patting the elongated nose of the gigantic creature. "Chiron gave him to me,"

"I thought you didn't like Chiron?" I asked looking over from the horse.

"I didn't," Percy said petting Blackjack soothingly. "Then he gave me a horse,"

"Can you be bought so easily?" I asked, but I watched the way Percy petted the creature. It was in a familiar way, his eyes were focused on the past on some event I couldn't even fathom. I knew that unlike me he missed the way things used to be, "Did you used to have a horse?"

"Yeah," He said, "raised him from a colt on the bottle. About the only thing good my Dad ever gave me." He smiled remembering. We were at two completely different places, I was always trying to forget and he never would. I touched his arm. "Had to put him down when he broke a leg though, broke my heart," He looked over at me. "Call me uncreative but his name was Blackjack, too," He said with a watery-eyed smirk, he wiped at his eyes. "Now, ahem," Clearing his throat he turned back to Blackjack 2. "This is a Clydesdale, he's a draft horse which is why he's so big," Percy patted Blackjack's thick upper leg. "He's got a lot of power in him but he was broke early so he's gentle. Here," Percy walked a short distance over to the other side of the stable and grabbed a bucket, when he got back he handed me a small pile of oats. "Hold your hand flat under his nose and he'll do the rest,"

I did, slowly. Blackjack kept his eyes on me, I could see so much personality staring back at me that it was hard to believe he couldn't talk. He sniffed the oats and raised his head, lips pulling back and mouth opening a big, pink tongue ticked the flat side of my fingers. His breath wasn't any better than the smell hanging in the air but I endured that little battle because of how fascinated I was. Percy's arms circled around me as I fed Blackjack, and for a moment everything else melted away.

I wondered why everything couldn't feel this perfect? Then my hands were licked clean and Percy opened Blackjack's stall. "You're not going to make me do this by myself are you?" I asked as he returned the bucket of oats and came back with an assortment of other things. Quickly he bridled the horse and fashioned a saddle around its waist, most importantly though was that he pulled off his shoes and stepped into a pair of brown cowboy boots, then, as if that weren't enough, he topped his head with a wide brimmed hat.

I felt a large tug at my groin, I'm sure on me it would have looked comical his entire setup, but on him it was quite nice. All the while he was doing this he said, "'Course not, sweetheart, we'll ride pillion,"

"Pillion?" I asked. He tossed his shoes over towards the same corner the oats had been, where a rack sat that I'm guessing the hat had been on.

"I'll show you," He said, a smile in his voice. Then, hoisting himself up, he swung his legs over the saddle in one fluid motion. Then he held his hand out for me. I took it cautiously, "Step in that hold," He instructed, there was a loop for me to put my foot through so I did, using it to step up Percy pulled me over to settle comfortably in front of him. "Hey, gorgeous," His breath kissed the back of my neck and I felt a stupid grin spread across my face. "Let me have the reins," His arms went underneath mine grabbing at Blackjack's reins, with one snap the horse was plodding forward slowly toward the open backdoor that led to the fenced in area I knew Silena was still practicing in.

"There you two are," She smiled when we were outside again. "I was going to send in a search team," I couldn't help but chuckle, I was in high spirits, "Mr. D. came up this way, he said there's about thirty minute left till they're going to ring the dinner bell,"

"That's just enough time to go once around, don't you think?" He asked; I could feel certain parts of his body directing the horse. His legs squeezed just so much, he pulled or slackened the reins, sat up a little or leaned back and Blackjack responded accordingly as if there were some unspoken bond between the two of them.

"If you two think you can keep up," Silena laughed.

"Well, Nicky and me are gonna take it easy, but feel free to open the thrusters up," He clicked his tongue and Blackjack started forward again, picking up a bit of speed. I bumped along slightly with his accelerated gait, the next thing I knew Silena was right beside us, her horse looked as if our slow speed bored him.

"Get better Nico, so I can kick both your butts," She grinned, then with a kick the Mustang she was riding took off with her, sending dust and rocks everywhere. I watched her go, still astounded at how well she handled the monstrous sized creature, not as big as Blackjack but still pretty big. Percy chuckled in my ear and we trotted along animatedly, he kissed the back of my neck as we weaved between barrels and I decided that slow and steady was better than "opening up the thrusters."

So far I was really enjoying life here.


	12. Chapter 12

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Coding and Codeine**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Twelve:** Unraveled

Do you ever just get caught up with the good moments in life? Like, life becomes this murky, yet somehow crystal clear image that blinds you to the moments you wish hadn't or weren't happening and you're just caught up in the happy ones that _are_? So much so that when bad things happen you're way more shaken than you might have been had you not been so placated in the first place? I mean, after all your doubts are put to rest and you actually start living you forget that bad things actually _do_ happen, you become ensconced in a cocoon of happiness and when you're cut out of it suddenly the world is a jarring and scary place.

God, I know how I must sound. But it was pretty upsetting.

It took me a full four months to even get to the point where I was comfortable at this camp, and another three weeks before I could express myself outwardly to other people without being self-conscious. I made friends who didn't think my mood swings were all that strange; everyone here understood what I'd gone through because they had gone through it too. It got to the point where I started having my emotions under control, even to a point that I controlled them better than I had ever done before. I could get upset without feeling completely overwhelmed by anger and flying off the handle like I had been prone to doing; with all these feel good feelings I was even starting to like Mr. D., which was a task.

People, as it turns out, aren't as bad as I had made out them out to be in my head. I think a part of my mind had stigmatized humanity after I had gone through a few years of being that weird kid, _and_ I think I was guarded which made my feelings almost primitive in their simplistic complexity because of how emotionally unstable being ostracized had made me.

I had been doing a lot of thinking actually; it occurred to me that the time spent with my boyfriend — heh, that was so natural now _my_ boyfriend — had changed my entire perspective gradually from that first meeting where I had been a robot on auto-pilot up until this point where I was shaking because I never knew what was going to come at me next but I enjoyed the feeling of the unknown if I faced it with him. For a while, even pre-Mist, my life had been a haze of events. I had never ventured out, never tried things, and ultimately as time went on I had become jaded to being social, or to doing anything at all. Then, I met Percy and, well, you know the rest.

Really, it was all of my introspection that had been my downfall. I could only self-analyze for so long before I had nothing left to look into, and then what happened to me? I had just been roaming from one place to another and I had forgotten basic human needs, I had not had a goal in life so I had become listless.

But, I'm doing it again, getting off point with my useless prattle. Percy says it's cute that I can't stay on topic; I think it's annoying as hell. This notwithstanding I'm _still_ not back on topic. Like I said, I was completely complacent at camp, unvigilant, not worried about survival anymore. 'Why survive when I could live?' -Another Percy-ism that makes me smile, that changes me.

As it turns out, though, not everyone is as intent as we are with living the way we do.

It was late at night, past curfew actually, and my boyfriend and I were seated on the dock overlooking the lake. We weren't tired, or, at least Percy wasn't, I was falling asleep on his shoulder but that's the kinds of things people say when they're in a relationship: _we_ weren't tired.

Anyway, he was humming again, per my request, and I think the serenity of it all was more contributory to my sleepiness than any actual lethargy. It was a surprisingly chilly night, but considering that Summer had ended and we were well into the Fall I don't suppose it was all that surprising, and I suppose even further that it was for our very complacency that we were still out past curfew.

"Nicky," Percy whispered in my ear, I had somehow gotten from his shoulder to his lap where he'd begun to stroke my hair. I grunted, which produced a mirthful chuckle out of him, "you can't sleep out here, let's go back to the cabin," It was supposed to be sort of romantic, you know? Watching the water at night where the stars were reflected back from its mirror smooth surface. It was a place like this where we had had our first time and that had also been the first time I had ever really trusted someone with my heart; so I think we were just further establishing our mutual love with nostalgia.

Or…or it might have just been a date, there's always that possibility as well, though I'm starting to think that I'm a romantic at heart. Semantic aside I was enjoying myself, even while dozing slightly so it's understandable if I didn't want to leave just yet. "Five more minutes?" I asked which garnered another chuckle from Percy.

"Five more minutes," He said, most likely mollifying me. "but I will pick you up and carry you back, you know I will." I knew he would, even with my hatred of him carrying me it didn't seem so bad in this moment where I was so warm because of him. His hand ran up and down my side gently and I felt myself falling back into a light doze; the smell of leaves mixed with the scent of the river in a purely woodsy smell that wasn't unpleasant, though currently I was immersed in the smell of lilac soap with an underlying musky tone because Percy had used the wrong soap to wash up earlier and truthfully I liked the smell of lilac on his skin. The moon was bright overhead, brighter than it had been in a while. It was so fluorescent in fact that there was no need for a flashlight or a lantern to light our way back, not that we couldn't have found our cabin blindfolded by now. Just as I was slipping into what was what I considered to be one of the best naps in the world a hand shook my shoulder. "Your five minutes are up."

I grumbled something that sounded particularly close to, "But you're so comfortable," I was pulled further into his lap, an arm behind my neck and one behind the back of my knees, then I felt the world go out from underneath me and I opened my eyes; in one swift move Percy had lifted me bridal style. "Put me down!" I squirmed; okay no this wasn't alright, as much as I loved him I still didn't like being hoisted up and busied into the air and he knew it.

Walking towards the end of the dock I heard soft laughter from above me, his warm lips touched the shell of my ear before he very maliciously said, "Are you sure you want me to do that?" Between us I'd always thought I was the villain, but here we were, me clinging to him while poised precariously at the end of a wharf that led into devastatingly cold water, and him with all the control of the situation.

I fixed my face with the darkest glare I could muster, "You'd better not," I warned lowly, all evidence of sleep gone now from my voice.

"Or what?" If it were possible his smile grew even more devilish.

"Or I'll break your freaking arm, Percy!" I shouted, he laughed again in a dangerously evil fashion and took a step back, letting me down on my own two feet. "Thank you," I let him kiss me though I showed no effort of returning it. Instead I turned towards the more petty and entirely unlikely route, "You know I would have pulled you in, too. I wasn't about to go down alone,"

With a tone that bordered perverse and a smile to match he said, "Now when have you ever gone down alone?" Ignoring the blush on my cheeks and rolling my eyes I met that comment with silence and instead began to head back, pushing past the towering oaf of a brunet who had learned not only how to push my buttons but also learned what sequence would enable him to make me do whatever he wanted, blissfully ignoring him.

I trekked on. "Wait up," His voice held a smile I couldn't see because I was making my way towards our cabin but he threaded our fingers together as he quickly caught up to me with his long strides. "You know I wouldn't have dropped you in,"

"I know, I would have killed you," I replied noncommittally, though I warmed to him again and squeezed his hand.

"I know," Percy smiled. "What a death that would have been though," I rolled my eyes at him again but smiled all the same. We walked in comfortable silence for a little while, slowly so that we didn't reach the cabin too soon, but not so slow as to seem like we were purposefully dragging behind. "What's that?" It took me a moment to realize that he had stopped but when I tried to step and his hand didn't follow I pretty much figured it out. The sudden question made me look in the direction of his line of sight which was towards the woods. I couldn't make anything out other than the outline of the trees.

"I don't see anything," I replied brushing it aside, "probably just an animal or something; this place is full of 'em,"

"Yeah," But he said it in a suspicious way, "I just thought I saw someone."

"Maybe it was one of your Party Pony buddies?" I grinned, there was a very real chance of that as well. The patrolling men and women that supposedly kept the camp secure at night were normally walking around to make people abided by the curfew.

"Maybe," He agreed tentatively, Percy was "under review" for becoming part of that very group, I could understand his desire to join them, really I could. The Party Ponies were ex-soldiers that had found themselves herded into Camp Halfblood when the outbreak had begun to outweigh the combative medicine and there had been more need for securing facilities such as this, instead of wasting away into boredom they had banded together. The Ponies did drills and had marksmanship practices and a lot of the time they were exempt from doing the same work around the campus as everyone else. They all had patrols though, moving through the woods in separate divisions like the one that had circumvented our arrival.

But, I looked again just to placate Percy and this time I did see something. A pacing figure, but it was only by the grace of the abundant moonlight and for that fact that whoever he was he'd stepped out of the forest a bit more. The singular figure must have spied us too because it jumped back into the woods, which made me think he was definitely not one of the Party Ponies. "Nico, get back to the cabin, something doesn't feel right about this," Percy's voice was low and warning as I'd never heard it before, which made me worry.

"Who do you think that was?" I asked,

"I don't—" But we got our answer the very next moment. He emerged again a moment later, he must have been clicking a lighter because a small flame caught the darkness and further dispelled it. Then that small flame was passed on to something much large till he was holding a flare like thing. He tossed it and it sailed through the air towards our direction we watched it for a moment in odd fascination, the flare had a trailing tail that burned behind it, but it struck the ground scant feet in front of us. "Get back!" Percy yelled throwing his shoulder squarely into my chest, knocking not only the breath out of me but sending both of us hurtling backwards. When what I thought had been a flare hit the ground it exploded in a myriad of force, sending heat and smoke out like a lashing whip, both of which hurt as bad as a whiplash. The time it took for me to suck down air and regain my bearings was too much for Percy's liking, he pulled me up before I could protest and dragged me quickly behind him in a full blown sprint. More explosions began raining down behind us, I chanced a glance behind me to discover that people had emerged out of the forest and were all lighting makeshift Molotov cocktails throwing them through the air at random. Fear didn't even have a second to register in me; all I knew was that my date had been interrupted in the worst sort of way and now my feet sort of hurt because I wasn't wearing shoes that were made for running.

"Why—" I tried only for one of the explosive devices to land directly in front of us, the blast knocked us back again, the heat from it was searing and vaguely I wondered if it had singed my hair because I could smell something burning. If I thought that I was disoriented before I had been sadly mistaken, blinking back tears I couldn't make anything out from the world of white that was now my vision. The flash of light from the cocktail had been like staring directly into the sun and with the concussive blast my ears were ringing so I was half blind and deaf for the most part. I don't think Percy was any better for the wear but his training must have kicked in because for only one unsure second did his hands grope out for me, then when he discovered me solid he pulled me on top of him and rolled us away.

Suddenly we were under the porch of a nearby cabin, I heard his voice distantly in my temporarily shell-shocked ears, "You…okay?" The words swam around in my head, jumbling and bouncing in my skull like acrobatic Olympians on crack and I'm sure there was more to what he said than that but it was what I heard.

"Yeah!" I shouted back as my vision began to clear; my ears still rang loudly but my sight was slowly starting to return. The camp was awash in colorful fires now, unknown assailants were swarming everywhere and were all swathed in black from head to toe. They moved on silent feet but began setting fire to whatever they could, breaking doors and hinges off of cabins, burning the grass, bushes, trees soon there were roaring flames jumping high into the air in a matter of quiet horrible minutes and all we could do was watch.

My hearing came back fortuitously just in time for me to hear Chiron's voice ringing out over the apparent madness, it might have been well past midnight but the camp was wide awake now. "The Cloven!" He screamed, his voice an angry and powerful trembling on a level that far surpassed petty fury. "Party Ponies drive them out, everyone else to the safe area!" We watched as the force known as the Party Ponies surrounded and met the attack head on. They emerged from every possible building and outcropping of woods. The next thing I knew things got brutal; our attackers and our defenders clashed with an audible _oomph_ in the air from their heavy impacts and I swear the ground shook.

"Nico, there's a group over there," Percy whispered in my ear, in all the excitement I had forgotten that we were huddled under a cabin quite possibly hiding for our lives. "I want you to follow them, okay? Do you see Silena?" I tore my eyes away just as one of the intruding men was brought down in a collapsing way that didn't bode well for his spine, the sound of the contacting blow had been hollow and I just knew that his nose had been broken. "Nico, do you see Silena?" Percy asked again, his voice now imperative, forcing me to focus. I looked for her in the group of people retreating from the cabins that he had pointed out, blonde hair caught the moonlight spectacularly making her long tresses glint silver; she was directing a crowd of panicked looking teens. I nodded then emphatically. "Go, follow them!"

"What?" I asked blinking against the bright contrasting flares of light and the darkness that was still circling around him under the cabin; thunderous booms overhead indicated that somewhere more explosions were happening. "I'm not leaving you; we don't even know what's going on!"

"Nico." His voice was commanding and serious, he wasn't asking for my opinion or even for permission to send me on my fucking way, he was telling me what I was going to do. The roar of the fires enveloping the woods and some of the cabins whooshed overhead, the air around us became suddenly thin but Percy looked even more determined in the grim shadows that were thrown by the fire which made me become inexplicably angry for some reason.

"I am not leaving you!" I repeated for clarity shouting over the clamor of people fighting. "I know you, Percy, with your big hero complex you're going to run out there barehanded and try to subdue those guys, let Chiron's people do it we'll stay right here. You're crazy if you think I'll let you put yourself in danger like that,"

"I have to help!" He shouted, his eyes were moving back and forth trying to search my face for any point of weakness that would make me concede to his innate need to be of assistance. But his expression was so serious, he didn't just _want_ to help he needed to, it was as plain as day.

I hesitated for a moment, my insides warring with whether I should ignore him or not, "Percy…" I said, almost groveling as my anger became malleable fury at myself for giving in. "Don't, they can handle this," A scream rent the air, one that was heard over the rest of the shouting and the monstrous roaring of the flames. Distracted from our discussion it was then that we noticed the cabin we were under had caught fire, with unsaid agreement we scrambled out from underneath it only to stand witness to the full brunt of the assault. The electricity of the atmosphere made me think that both parties were most likely not far from pulling out bigger weapons.

Men and women were all out fighting; fists were connecting hard to jaws and knees with abdomens; as the blaze around us moved to a fever pitch Percy's eyes scanned the field to get his bearings again. "Let's go," He grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him. We ran full speed over the campus, ducking and dodging people clothed in black left and right. The camp seemed to be overrun as more of the intruders flooded out of the burning woods.

Finally we reached the retreating group of civilians set aside from the military trained Ponies, Silena seemed to be the one orchestrating order where chaos may have been reigning supreme. She had control over the frightened people who were shuffling into a before now unseen underground shelter. She caught sight of us and we of her. She was fiercely beautiful with her hair painted coppery orange in the brilliant firelight, it was disheveled and I could tell she had been rushed; the barefooted, white tank-topped, and sweatspanted combo furthered the theory that she had been roused from bed by the attack. Her soft features were drawn together in concentration bordering on morbid. "Come on, let's go guys you're the last in," She shouted over the cacophony. It was true, it seemed like the entire camp was housed in the cellar underground.

"Take Nico," Percy said, which caused an anger to swell up inside of me again, one that had seemed like it had been just mild irritation before but now it had turned to cold rage. I spun on my heels.

"Percy, you are _not_ going out there!" My voice was shrill and demanding but even I heard the desperate plea underneath it. I was mad at him for trying to put himself in danger, but he had never given up on his militaristic view of protection. A warm smile overcame his face and amid the strange disaster going on around us I took solace in that grin, he put his arms around me and hugged me tightly to his body though I remained stiff in his grasp. I knew he was going to go; after half year of being with him I knew him well enough to see that I had been beaten. He didn't know was going on either but that wasn't going to stop him from doing all he could. He kissed my lips hard, and with his mouth pressed against mine I couldn't stay inflexible so I melted and found myself kissing him back. After a few seconds of passion he pulled back.

I couldn't look at him, tears were streaking down my face now, "Be careful," My voice betrayed me, it trembled with fear as the unthinkable crossed my mind: What if he didn't come back?

"I will be," He kissed me again and smiled minutely, then it vanished off his face as quickly as it came. "Now go," I didn't want to but I knew Percy and I knew he knew what he was doing. To ignore him now and force him to come into this cellar with me would have done no good, he would have forcibly removed himself from me just to come back and help however he could without my permission because he felt it was the right thing to do.

Silena pursed her lips together in passing discontent, but if she thought that my boyfriend shouldn't have run out into the fray she didn't say anything. "Come on," She said decisively ushering me into the safe haven below, I looked over my shoulder one last time but the cellar doors were closing and Percy was running to the spot where the preemptive strike had begun. My stomach knotted because he didn't look back and I swallowed a hot rush of sadness as silent tears overwhelmed me again, I tried to stop the prickling behind my eyes by force of will alone but it wasn't working.

When we were closed underground an overhead electric light came on thanks to one of the campers cranking a generator in the corner. Before I reached the bottom step I grabbed Silena by the arm, with my time here nearing nearly in its fifth month she was more a friend now than anyone that closely resembled a person I should have been jealous of, plus she had a boyfriend. But, at that moment I wasn't thinking about how well we had gotten to know each other, or even how I could name just about every other person behind her. I had just one thing on my mind.

"What the fuck was that up there?" I shouted, near hysterics. I wiped at my face furiously, knowing that my cheeks were flushed and that I was glaring near palpable daggers. Now that Percy was gone so too was my reason and restraint. The look she gave me said it all: this problem was something they had dealt with before. Her expression was drawn and taxed, annoyed even; above us was an irritant that had plagued them several times I was sure of it considering Chiron had named the problem. "Who are those people, what is the Cloven?" I screamed, but she remained silent. Sensing that she wasn't going to answer me like this I reined in my dramatic behavior. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath it took all I had but I accomplished it. "Sorry," I whispered.

"Better?" She asked, I nodded finding a shaky seat on the stairs we'd descended. "Those people and the Cloven are one in the same, Nico. They're an organization of people who somehow survived the Mist without shelter in the camp, but more importantly now that everything's over and we've been left in a state of disarray they want to impose social order, a social order wherein their leader becomes the next President or Prime Minister or whatever this society we live in now would call it," She sighed. "Chiron's refused several times to turn over the camp to them so every few weeks they raid us, they're trying to sap our resources so we have to rely on them for support. With numbers like ours we wouldn't last long if they discovered where we kept our caches of food. It's scary because they've never actually _found_ the camp before, now they know where we are."

"Are they dangerous?" The question was redundant, I realized it only after it had left my mouth but Silena's eyes softened because she knew what I was really wondering: was Percy going to be okay?

"They've never used guns before, explosives yes but their Molotovs have a lot lower accuracy than firearms, and I think they just want to scare us," Suddenly she looked unsure though, "they _are_ dangerous but we've always been able to handle them so far, I don't think they'll be a problem this time." I didn't know what else to ask, something told me that she didn't know very much more after that about these Cloven folks and I decided when it was over I would ask Chiron.

"How long do these raids usually last?" My voice was barren of emotion; I knew how she would answer before she said it.

"All we can do is wait," Was her bleak reply.

It was a very tense sleep that had fallen over the majority of us; currently I was nodding off against Sadie and she against me. I hadn't thought that she would be so positive in a situation like this but she had said, "No use in worrying about what we can't control," And that had been the end of it. I could tell she was as upset as I was but she was hiding it behind a veil of maturity far passed that of a sixteen year old girl's. Carter sat on the other side of me, but there was a pretty girl leaning on his arm so he wasn't paying us much attention. This particular girl's skin was umber colored and flawless and her hair was a tumult of midnight colored locks interspersed with blondes and browns. Her eyes were a beautiful and rare golden-honey color and were hidden behind soft lids; she seemed just as content to lean against Carter as he was to have her there.

There were others around, many, many others I noticed as I looked around at the bleak faces. The boy Sadie liked, Will, was standing in a corner watching us surreptitiously and looking away every time I caught his eye, a quiet young woman named Abigail not far from him, the Stoll brothers, Mr. D. and his twin boys Castor and Pollux, and quite a few more. The cellar was big enough to hold at least fifty people and we were pushing its limits. Silena had the pretense of checking over everyone to make sure they were okay but I knew that her mind was on the young man I had discovered was her boyfriend only a few days ago: Charlie Beckendorf, he was part of the Ponies which meant he was up there fighting the Cloven.

I had no way of knowing the time down there, minutes could have passed or hours, but it felt like forever till those doors finally opened and a ragged but smiling Chiron stood in front of us like a homeless beacon of hope. Sadie awoke at the flood of light, "It's about bloody time," She yawned. "Carter, wake up," Carter did in fact wake up but he chose not to speak, instead he looked down on the brunette-blonde young woman leaning against him and smiled, his mind elsewhere. Sadie extricated herself from me and stood, stretching heavenward.

I turned my attention back towards the camp's leading man. Chiron's clothes were torn and his hair and beard were frazzled more than I had ever seen them, a thick sheet of sweat painted his forehead. Besides a few cuts and a swelling black eye he was much the same as he had been before, an intelligent man making the best out of a bad situation. Behind him morning light was blinding in the once darker cellar momentarily making my eyes itch from the sudden influx of brightness. At the sight of him questions hit the air like the exploding bottles of flammable liquid known as Molotov cocktails; he received them well but did not answer until everyone was quiet again. "We won," He said with a breath of relief causing the crowd to cheer uproariously. "There were no causalities on either side ," He continued to report, "a lot of close calls but nothing too serious, after a few more hours of sleep and a light breakfast we'll set to repairing the damage those damn Cloven caused," He stepped aside and added, "Silena, Margret, and Nico, you should follow me to the infirmary, everyone else you're dismissed."

"What's going on, Chiron?" Silena asked quietly, though her voice carried down to us.

"Charlie's alright," Chiron whispered back to her. "Just, follow me please?" The others began to flood out of the cellar but I hung back with the blonde and a middle aged woman named Margret who looked like I'm sure Silena felt: anxious. Sadie, Carter, and Zia Rasheed, who was the young woman who had been leaning against the tall young man, all bid me good-bye as did a few other people until it was just us three left. The man standing at the top of the stairs didn't look upset or fazed by the raid instead his eyes were pensive and his face was neutral, he was ever the scholar. After the breadth of the community had exited I ascended the stair with Margret and Silena behind and without a word Chiron took off towards the infirmary.

The infirmary as it was was a small building connected to the recreational center that wasn't too far from the cafeteria and Chiron's own cabin slash work area, which people weren't allowed inside of. We entered into the infirmary, all of us not speaking a word for fear that something had gone horribly wrong. Margret's husband was also part of the Part Ponies so there was no question as to why we had been called together like this.

"Marge," We had made our way to the cots where the normally sick rested and a man had met us halfway, he too was of middle age, his brownish-red hair thinning slightly. He pulled Margret into his arms and suddenly she burst into tears.

"Ted," She sobbed against his shoulder, thankful her worst fears hadn't come true. "I thought this was going to be the time you didn't come back," We left them to their own devices as we continued farther in coming across Charlie Beckendorf looking down on someone lying on an infirmary bed. Charles Beckendorf was a large black man, who was indisputably good looking and incomparably hilarious. His head was shaved and waxed to a glistening and a thick goatee had been grown around his lips. His brown eyes were currently shining and a smile curled his mouth upward at some joke he'd heard only moments before.

"Charlie!" Silena rushed forward, small in comparison to him, but she threw her arms around his neck and hoisted herself up, his larger arms circled her waist and they kissed. On the walk to the infirmary I had had the most foreboding feeling. If it wasn't Charlie we were here to see, or Theodore Rosenblatt we were here to see then that left only one person.

"Where's Percy?" I asked, my voice bordering on hysterical.

"Calm down, Nicky," Relief poured down my throat, settling the beating of my heart as its thumping had become something of legend, a staccato 64-beat that thudded against my ribcage. But, the relief quickly turned into something else as I saw that he was the one in the bed. He pushed himself up and smiled at me, "I'm fine,"

I stomped forward, my index finger thrust out in an accusatory manner pointed directly at the bedded boy, "Perseus Rick Jackson," I said moving with so much intent that even Charles Beckendorf, all six foot four inches of him, moved out of the way.

"Nicky—"

"Don't you "Nicky" me, I told you not to go out there and you did anyway, I told you to be careful and where do I find you?" I was only kind of livid, he didn't look physically hurt so I was free of the crippling sadness I might have felt if he were seriously injured. Chiron's hand wrapped around my shoulder comfortably and he chuckled slightly close to my ear.

"Well, I'm one of the three people in this room who's glad he was there. He didn't just save my life, he saved theirs too," Chiron motioned to Charlie and Ted who both nodded emphatically.

"He caught a Molotov in mid-air and tried to throw it back, but when the thing hit his hand it must have gotten too hot 'cause the minute he threw it it exploded." Ted told me, which didn't make my disposition much better.

"One of the bravest things I've ever seen," Charlie added.

I took a moment and let my anger subside; he was just being Percy which made him wonderful and brilliant and my everything but sometimes it made him inaccessible and I didn't like that. Then I sighed, "Why do I get the impression that as a kid you were always sporting some kind of scrapes or cuts?" I asked him, sitting on his bed.

"'Cause I was; 's part of being a little boy, getting all banged up," He grabbed my hand and smiled.

"Apparently it's part of being a grown man too," I grumbled, then I looked at Chiron, "what's wrong with him, why's he here?"

"Well, Percy personally has a bit of a sprained ankle but nothing serious, but I'm afraid they may all have a bit of a concussion from the blast. Luckily I was far enough away that I didn't suffer the same fate, either way they're fine I just want to keep them here for a while under observation," Chiron turned his attention to Percy, "You're a hero, son," Which caused Percy to, if you can believe it, blush. I was gobsmacked, out of all the dirty things he had said and done to me all you had to do to get him to light up like a Christmas tree was apparently appraise him. I took that into consideration then pushed it aside to think of later.

"When are you going to release them?" I asked.

"In a few hours, just in time for lunch I'm sure. You're all more than welcome to stay here with them but I've got to get back to making taking stock of the damage done to our camp." He moved as if to turn away.

"Chiron," I called, stopping him after recalling a promise I'd made earlier to myself. "what do you know about the Cloven?" For a moment he looked taken aback, cutting his eyes to Silena, but he recovered gracefully.

"Just that they're a band of renegades," He shrugged. "that's all. I'll be back," Then he was gone. Before I could think anything about it Percy's hand reached out and grabbed me, causing all other thought to cease. I turned around in his arms and stared down at him hard, so many things were burning inside of me and I knew that it was all reflected in my eyes.

"You were really worried about me, huh?" He asked, his fingers curled under my chin.

"You're damn right I was worried," I said swallowing down a swell of thick emotion; I wasn't going to cry in front of these people, my tears were as private as my feelings and only one person had seen any of those. "You're too damn headstrong Percy, just 'cause you can do everything doesn't mean you should,"

"I'm headstrong?" That damn smile could stop wars, I stared at him and traced my hand over his scruffy face, he hadn't been able to shave this morning and I could tell. "If you could you would have thrown me down into that bunker and tied me up to keep me there," I felt myself laughing, but inside it felt more like a choked sob. I put my head against his shoulder.

"I wish I could say you weren't going to do anything like that again,"

"I wish I could too," He whispered in my ear. That's when I knew that I had fallen in love with a soldier, that's when I knew that I had seen every side of Percy and that I still loved him fiercely. He would always feel obligated to protect and I would have to be okay with that no matter how much it would hurt to send him off. For just a moment in my most selfish of selves I thought that maybe, maybe I could persuade him otherwise, but he wouldn't have been happy sitting on the sidelines and I wouldn't have been happy if he wasn't happy. "Go back to our room and get some sleep, okay Nicky? I'll be here for while and you look like you could use some rest,"

"So do you," A faint smile tugged at my lips as I continued to trace my fingers over his features, I knew every line, every dip, every mole and absentmindedly I wondered how much more I could fall for him because it felt like I was in an endless sea, not wading but full on swimming as fast as I could into the unknown. From the expression on his face though I knew I wasn't alone, and it felt good.

"I love you," I said, it was the significance of those words that were so casually thrown around that I spoke ten thousand times at once. "I love you" was a poem, it was a novel, it was a sonnet, it was every literary device all composed together into three little words that properly conveyed what I meant and so much more. Percy pulled my chin closer to him and kissed me on the lips, his tongue swept inside of my mouth playfully and I knew he was laughing before I felt his chuckles.

He pulled back, "I love you too, Nico," He said in a breathy half whisper, his eyes never leaving mine. "more than life itself." And when he said it like that I knew it was true, just like all the other times before I knew it had been true but still I liked to hear it. I kissed him again and then I stood. Charlie and Silena were trying to look as if they hadn't been watching us, and Ted and Margret were being even more convincing though I knew all eyes had been in our direction.

"I'll be back when breakfast is ready," I told him, giving his hand one last squeeze.

"I'll be waiting," He nodded.

"And you're sure you want me to go back to the cabin I could stay—?" He didn't interrupt but he grinned in a humorous sort of way like he knew I was going to say that. "Right. Okay, I'll go get some sleep then, you guys keep him out of trouble please." I told Charles and Ted who both smiled.

"Can do, Nico," Charlie laughed I walked past and made my way back to the cabin but before I was out of the infirmary I heard his loud, booming voice say, "That's a hell of a boyfriend you got there, Percy. I think I'd rather take a grenade back when I was in the service than deal with his wrath,"

"His wrath is his cutest asset," Percy countered.

That caused me to smile, however the thing only lasted on my lips for a minute as I made my way from the infirmary back to my cabin which—incidentally—was one of the few that hadn't accumulated any sort of damage. Others ranged from barely singed, slightly charred or smoking heaps. There were people around, gathering supplies, cleaning the camp, hustling and moving back and forth. It occurred to me what they were really doing though. They were keeping busy, all we could do was keep busy. Not get distracted by the truth of it all: humanity was broken. Sure, before it had been a jaded and ugly thing but now all pretenses of civility were shattered. What were we cavemen trying to steal the habitats of rival tribes? I closed my eyes as a pang of sorrow ran through my body.

We had been so close to death today. The thought of Percy dying arrested my breathing, I was on the stairs leading up to the door of my cabin when I froze, latent terror freezing me. If I had lost him…

I felt hot tears streaking down my face suddenly and I cried. Pushing through a fog of emotions I made my way inside where finally a sob broke through. Somewhere in my mind I knew I was formulating a plan before the thoughts even hit my conscious. Through my dire sorrow at the prospects of both what ifs and of future endeavors with the Cloven I found myself suddenly upset. In fact, I was enraged. How dare anyone attack Percy? _My_ Percy. I was so mad I punched a wall, leaving my fist a throbbing beacon of resentment for our attackers. Tears continued to stream out of my eyes, and I don't know if they were from fear or anger but I knew one thing.

Chiron had some questions to answer.


	13. Chapter 13

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Thirteen:** Revelation

"Jesus, Nico it's just was sprain! I can walk on it now, I'm tired of sitting here all day!" Percy groaned.

"I don't care," I replied, placing more blankets on top of him. On my order he was laying in our bed with his leg propped up, looking somewhat miserable because he had been there for a few days. Since the attack we, and the other cabins, had an influx of new inhabitants. Spare beds had been brought in so we were housing about twelve other guys. Silena's cabin was full of young women and packed as full as ours. The few other cabins that were still standing were fit to bursting until everything could properly be repaired, "Now, lay there while I go get breakfast,"

"Where could I go? You've got me bundled into this thing like a prison," Percy said unhappily. Maybe I was taking it a little overboard. I could hardly make him out under the pile of blankets I had piled on top of him and we _had_ been reassured that his ankle would probably start feeling better a few days ago but, I wasn't taking any chances. Another day or two off of it wouldn't hurt. And maybe I was punishing him a little for making me worry, just a little. I kissed him quickly, chuckling to myself. If there was one thing he hated it was being confined.

"You look pretty comfortable there, Percy," Carter smiled he, Walt, Charles, the Stoll twins, a young man named Ethan Nakamura, and a few others were gathered around a table playing a card game, the rest of our new roommates were all out probably trying to get their minds off of what happened.

"Shut it, Kane," Percy growled. I laughed.

"Behave yourselves," I said with a small smile, more than half our new occupants were part of the Party Ponies (a few were Pony hopefuls) thanks to their cabin being one of the ones to burn down, and to the fact that Percy had gotten his wish after his little stunt. Now he was one of them. "I'll be back." I gave him a quick peck on the lips and was off.

Walking out of the door I heard their laughter resume, this time Percy's joined it so I knew someone else must have become the butt of their joke. I smiled to myself for a moment, heading down the stairs, and stopping to look around. If the scorch marks on the ground weren't there and the few cabins that were beyond repair weren't still smoking you might think nothing happened. We had worked hard to restore a semblance of the way the camp had looked before.

I thought about how much it had taken to just do the repairs. Supplies seemed almost endless for now; they simply journeyed into the city to retrieve what we needed. But, what about in a few years when we would have to go out of state to replenish, or then even a few years after that when we would have to go even further? I sighed because I knew that was a far way off, I was just tired. Not only had I thrown myself into helping rebuild the camp all week but when it came time to go to sleep I just couldn't. I feared the return of the Cloven, when they showed up again Percy would run off.

Maybe if I joined the Party Ponies myself I could at least watch after him, but I wasn't the kind of guy they were looking for. It would take a lot of work for me to become physically fit enough, which was all well and good, but in that time I could direct my energy somewhere else like into things I was actually good at. I wasn't so selfish as to overestimate my abilities just because I wanted to keep an eye on Percy. I would stick to helping people around the camp as best I could and I would have to trust that he could defend himself. It wasn't something I liked, but it was the truth which at times was a sour thing to swallow.

First things first, I needed to see Chiron because breakfast would be over all too quickly and then he would become swamped with other things, if he wasn't already. I wanted to take a good portion of the time he could spare because as much as I had begun to like him something inside me thought he knew more than he was telling. Making my way to the food hall I found him right where I figured he would be, sitting at one of the tables sipping a cup of coffee while his eyes scanned a book. His was the only table with no one else at it, the campers must have not wanted to disturb him, he only kept council with two people, Mr. D. and Silena, and I had only ever really seen him interacting with his Ponies but whether this was his own decision or not I couldn't tell.

Squaring my shoulders I walked over to him and sat without invitation.

"Nico," He said with a small smile, looking up from his book. "what a pleasant surprise, good morning."

"Morning," I returned, he looked so approachable. I was trying to think of how I wanted to phrase the questions I had for him in my head. "Am I interrupting?" I asked, thinking better not to assume he was doing nothing.

"Not at all, I was only reading a study on Nietzsche's philosophies," He said looking at the book one last time before closing it, his eyes warm mocha as they assessed me. "You seem to have something on your mind, though. How can I help you, son?"

I thought maybe this wasn't the best idea, accusing him of withholding information. Even if he did it was probably for the good of the camp, why would he tell us about every single problem if he and his counselors could just figure it out without worrying everyone? I sighed, "Chiron, I want to be a camp counselor," It was a split decision but the moment it left my mouth I felt it was the right one; meeting his eyes with what I hoped looked like long thought out determination I stared him down.

He smiled in a way that was both heartwarming and something else. What was that...was that pride? It spread all over his face till I had to look down at the table, I wasn't used to people my dad's age giving me such a prideful look and it made me strangely uncomfortable. I had come here thinking that I was going to stand my ground, forcing answers to things I didn't understand out of him, and here I was already losing my nerve. But, if I could get him to agree to my request maybe I could learn everything that I didn't know. Silena seemed to have knowledge about things that other people didn't, and Mr. D., well, he never really talked to anyone, not even his sons.

"What reason would you want to do that, Nico? I've got two perfectly capable candidates doing a splendid job as is," He returned.

"Because I want to be part of something in this camp too!" I told him quickly, realizing that that was true. Percy was so gung-ho about being a part of things that it must have been rubbing off on me. He was such a bad influence. I leaned forward so no one else could hear, "I want to know everything that you're not telling everyone." I said, a hard look came over his face then but he didn't speak. "I want to be able to help, I don't like not knowing what's going on and you might think that you're doing me a favor by keeping me in the dark like everyone else—"

"I would be—"

I stopped him from interrupting, "But, I can handle it! If it's a matter of security then my lips are sealed, I wouldn't dare tell anyone what was going on,"

He smiled, "Not even Percy?"

I scowled, "Not even Percy," I said gravely, seriously. "Besides, I love him but if he hears something he doesn't like he's immediately up trying to do something about it, I'll listen to you before making any rash decisions about what I think should be done." He sat back pensively, sipping his coffee and tapping his Nietzsche book.

"I see you feel strongly about this," He said after another long, drawn out sip.

"Yeah,"

"Maybe I could use another ear, Dionysus is good enough company when I need someone to drink with and reminisce but poor Silena has dealt with the breadth of my musings," He smiled again, my pulse was racing as I felt him about to say what I was hoping he'd say. "You know that it will be terribly boring for the most part?" He asked, but the optimistic look wouldn't be so easily knocked off my face. He laughed, "Alright, Nico. I'll promote you to camp counselor, which, as you've figured out is more accurately a position to know the intimate things that go on here, though I regret to inform you that the work is hard. If, at any time, you feel your work load is too much all you have to do is simply let me know and I'll take it back," I felt myself smiling.

"Thank you!" I grinned, then I remembered why I had really come here. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, who are the Cloven, really?" I asked. He finished his mug and sat it down, placing his book on top of a clipboard that had been in his lap and pulled a pencil from behind his ear.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked, looking grim.

"Of course, if they're going to attack again I think knowing who they are is key to driving them away." I replied with the same amount of seriousness in my voice.

"Then I'll tell you," He sighed. "I have no idea who they are."

"You—what?" I blinked at the anticlimactic answer and he looked away shaking his head.

"It's true, their leader is a man named Leneus, he seemed level-headed enough when he asked if his survivors could merge with us, what was that, two years ago? But, the night before they were all schedule to be brought into the camp they raided and attacked the guards we keep on the outskirts of the woods. They were probably upset that we didn't bring them in at once, but as you've seen I'm a cautious man," I remembered.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A casualty," He replied. "They killed my son." Surprise hit me so hard that I had to bite back bile, his face had gone from divulgator to stone in a matter of seconds, but for the first time I saw real pain hidden in his scholarly expression. He had suffered just as much as the rest of us and it was just now dawning on me to even ask; this hadn't been an easy transition for him, it had been easy for no one and I had to keep that in mind. No matter how big the smiles, or how loud the laughs everyone was hurting inside. "We drove them from our woods where we had let them gather while they moved their sick and elderly, and I'm sure it is to Leneus's great displeasure that we never revealed the location of the camp, but now he knows. They'll kill again, I'm sure of it, but I'll do my damndest not to let that happen."

I felt my head spinning. This is exactly what I had asked for, to know what was going on, but it suddenly seemed like a huge threat made more real by Chiron's steel hardened expression. I swallowed, "What can I do?" I asked.

His face suddenly softened and his gaze became much less intense, just like that he was aloof again but once I had seen his face contort with grief I couldn't easily forget it, "For now you can drop this topic, Nico," He said touching my shoulder in a gesture that I realized was entirely too fatherly. I thought about every look of caution, every seemingly tight-lipped action, every proud smile that I had seen on him and it was all too clear now why he had seemed so strange. He was still grieving his own child, but outwardly he looked so strong. He stood gathering up all of his effects. "We'll talk more later when I call a meeting, I'll tell Silena to notify you of when that is and you'll be given a permanent free pass when it comes to the curfew, especially if you need to tell me something directly."

"Chiron, I'm sorry," I replied.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," He said simply, his voice just the slightest bit tight.

"No, not just about your son, but I am incredibly sorry about that too. I'm sorry because I thought you weren't telling us everything because you were some crazy guy or something, and you're not. You're this really amazing guy who has a lot on his shoulders." He smiled and patted my shoulder again, each pat like a leaden weight against me, I felt horrible about conceiving such a cockamamie thought. "So thank you for being…well, amazing." I finished.

"I'm not," He said. Before I could protest he held his hand up. "I have to go, for some reason Katie Gardner can't get a patch of soil to give us any crops, I'm going to run some nitrogen tests on it," I nodded, staring down at my hands hard. "And Nico?" I looked up, "Don't be so hard on yourself, I look forward to having you around," Then he walked away.

I sighed wondering to myself if I could be any more of a horrible person and stood, breakfast was almost over. Going over to the serving line I greeted Darrin, Piper, and Lacy, the three on food duty today. After which I grabbed breakfast for myself and Percy; finding that I wasn't in the mood to make conversation I apologized and told them we would hang out later, then I made my way quickly back to our cabin.

When I opened the door I discovered two things that should have upset me but that didn't, one: Percy was out of bed with one hand full of cards and a pile of poker chips in front of him, and two: in his other hand was what looked like a rolled cigar, just about every other person gathered around the card table was smoking one as well. Now, if I hadn't just made myself feel like such a jackass I might have marched in there, grabbed that cigar out of his hand and pulled him by the collar back to his detainment, but Percy was a grown man, he could smoke if he wanted to, and I was feeling lower than low at the moment.

"Read 'em and weep boys, royal flush," He smiled laying the cards down on the table. There was a groan of consensus at the table and he smiled as he pulled the bets towards himself. I shook my head at their antics, if this was how "guy time" went then I was rather glad I'd never participated.

"Those cigars stink," I announced from the door, everyone jumped at the sound of my voice and I laughed. "At ease, gentleman." Being that the cabin had been mine and Percy's before they had all moved in we were technically the people who ran things in it, that's how things were run here. Someone would be appointed to the position of Cabin Leader, Cabin Leaders answered to Counselors and Counselors answered to Chiron.

Somehow I had been given the Cabin Leader title, which made me chuckle to myself because walking around Cabin 3 (the number of cabins we lived away from the big one that Chiron stayed in) I felt like I was in a land of giants. I was the smallest person in there, Carter was second shortest but even he slightly towered over me. So I thought it was funny that they all seemed to want to tiptoe around me, and I thought it even funnier that considering the fact that a few cabins had just burned down they were in here smoking (regardless of the fact that now they were trying to surreptitiously snuff the cigars and cigarettes out) and cavorting.

"H-hey, Nico, you're back pretty quick, huh?" Percy asked with a nervous smile. "Am I in trouble." He added quickly. I laughed, closing the door behind me with my foot.

"So much trouble," I replied. "Open the windows so that the smell airs out at least, and eat your breakfast," I handed him a plate of biscuits with slightly cooled gravy, some sausages, and oatmeal with butter that had melted into it. "Scoot over and deal me in," He took the plate and smiled as cards were dealt out.

"Have I ever told you how awesome you are?" He asked; I felt myself return with a small smile.

"Once or twice, but I can stand to hear it again," I replied.

"Hey, sweetheart," I looked up, Charlie's voice was directed towards the door. Silena stood there, a small smile on her face at his acknowledgement of her. She had on a tangerine colored blouse that bunched around her sides, outlining her slim but curvy figure well tucked into a pair of high-waisted white business casual slacks and a pair of nude colored wedges. Her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, a few blonde strands haloing around her face. How the hell did she look like a fashion magazine cover every time I saw her?

"Hi!" She said cheerily, marching in and placing a kiss on his lips. "Charlie, you've been smoking." She accused.

"Only a little," He said with a smile, she grabbed his arm and rubbed up to his shoulder.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked, shaking her head causing her expertly curled waves to catch sunlight, then she leaned down and kissed him again.

"Love you," Charlie said when she pulled back.

"You'd better," She grinned, then she looked over at me. "Chiron told me you were a counselor now?" All eyes turned to me; I set what would have been a winning hand down on the table. I'd played a lot of internet poker back when the internet was kind of a big thing and I'd gotten pretty good.

"Uh, yeah," I said sheepishly.

"That's great," She said, her smile was almost relieved. "It'll be good to have someone else to talk to, Dionysus is…he's a great person, but he doesn't take much seriously."

"I'll do my best, I…I want to help around here, somehow."

"Hey, maybe you can give us the skinny, when Leena goes to those damn meetings she never tells me anything about them," Charlie said.

"I kinda promised not to say anything either," I said, finding that my hands in my lap were surprisingly very interesting. I felt Percy's eyes on me, our breakfast half forgotten, and I did not look over at him.

"Sworn to secrecy," Silena laughed. "Sorry, boys, there has to be some sort of order around this place or else we wouldn't be any better than those damn Cloven," There was a silent moment before she added, "You should meet us in the cafeteria after dinner, Chiron's decided to call a meeting to sort of induct you."

I nodded, "I'll be there," She stood to her full height and smiled again.

"Good, if any of you lazy men can be spared some roofs need repairing, and some walls need painting," She said over her shoulder as she made her way to the door, "and by "be spared" I mean let's hop to it!"

"Just let us finish this game, babe?" Charlie said, almost pleadingly, which gave me incentive to turn my hand over. There was a collective groan from the table at the sight of my cards and I felt myself grinning. "Alright, yeah, we're going," Charlie laughed standing. "Nico, you're a card shark,"

"Only a little bit," I smiled. "Play you again soon?"

"Hell no, I know when I'm beat," He laughed. "Sure, anytime." With that everyone stood and followed the bouncy blonde out of our cabin.

We got two cabins repaired that day, they weren't up to code for habitation just yet but the burnt wood had been replaced after more had been chopped and treated and waxed, new roofs had been built, it was amazing what a handful of the men and women could do. Everyone seemed to have a special talent of some kind. Truth be told I felt like an Amish person, pulling with a rope as we hauled a repaired wall up to a standing.

By the end of it my muscles were sore but it was a good burn. I was informed by one of our many workers that I'd probably be feeling it in the morning. I was feeling it right now, I could only guess what morning would bring. Chiron seemed to be his old smiling self, directing and demonstrating what he wanted done to a group of people and then moving on quickly and starting all over with a new one.

We all worked as hard as we could, and by dinner time there were two structures standing again where before it had been less that even half of one. "Good work, everybody," Chiron said. "Tomorrow we've got more to do, but for today I'm dismissing the rest of the schedule, everyone's free to do as they will," There was a whooping cheer. "As for me I'm going to retire for a little while, if anyone needs me get in touch with Silena or, our newest counselor, Mr. Nico di Angelo." He motioned to me, suddenly there was another whooping cheer and people began to applaud. I felt my cheeks become inflamed suddenly and I tried to fold into myself as much as I could, but I was the center of attention. It took a moment but the camp leader finally took pity on me, "Alright, alright, enough you're going to give him a complex. Everyone, you're dismissed,"

Conversations started springing up all around us as everyone dispersed, I looked for Percy but I saw he was engaged in a conversation all his own. I decided to leave him to it, I wanted to steal him away but he needed his guy time, that was a given.

"Hey, Angel-boy, you wanna grab a bit to eat?" I looked over, Sadie was smiling at me.

I looked over at Percy another time, and then I smiled back, "Sure, let's go." As we walked she introduced me to a girl who I had presumed was just on the way to the cafeteria.

"This is Jazmine, a mate of mine. Jaz you know Nico, everyone does now that he's a celebrity," Jazmine was an exceptionally pretty blonde girl who was about Sadie's age. I shook hands with her.

"Nice to meet you," I said blushing at the celebrity comment.

"You too," She smiled.

We stepped into the cafeteria and a mouth watering aroma of food hit our noses, my stomach growled loudly and we fell in line behind the others waiting to receive their dinner, Sadie snapped her fingers, "I've got an idea, since I haven't the slightest where you're from or anything about you, Nico, we'll go around telling exactly how we got here, all three of us." She looked as if that was a perfectly good idea, I grinned because I thought it wasn't half bad. "You first, of course," She tacked on as we moved forward.

"Okay, it started like this…" I told them my story so far. From the very beginning that started with my mother's death to the part where Percy rescued me in a Wal-Mart, though Sadie interrupted by saying, "So he's always saving you, then? Seems a bit damsel-in-distress if you ask me," To which I told her to shut up and let me tell the story. I moved on, omitting some of the heavier parts, till they were both thoroughly convinced that the world had ended just so Percy and I could be together. I laughed because it did seem that way.

"You say you went through Tennessee?" Jazmine asked, by the time I was done we had gotten our food and were seated. I nodded, "That's where I'm from, Nashville actually," Then she painted an elaborate story of being the daughter of a surgeon and having studied all her life to go into the medical field. She told us about Summers in Tennessee and about Southern Hospitality, to which I interrupted saying, "Yeah, Percy's from Texas, I've witnessed _that_ first hand," She continued, talking about how she hadn't known her father had contracted the Mist, but he had forced her onto the first bus to New York to stay with some family, then she got the call not too long after having boarded the bus that he died. By the time she had reached New York the virus had killed off more than half of the United States. She told us how her aunt and uncle had been DOA once she reached her destination as well. Luckily they lived on Long Island, and not too long after she found herself here.

Sadie's story was pretty similar, Carter had been visiting her and her grandparents in London, he had been there for about a month before it was time for him to go back and for Sadie to visit in the States for the same amount of time with their dad. Two days before they had to go Zia—who at the time had only been Carter's friend—had shown up, Carter had promised to show her around the city. "Git," She said rolling her eyes. "The pathetic thing is that it was _so_ obvious they'd end up together," Here a knowing smirk played at her lips. She continued to say that a few days into her arrival in the States was when it started getting bad. She too had lost her father, and her Gran and Grandad—though this was speculation because they were in Jolly Old England and she was bloody well stuck here, wasn't she? Her words, not mine. She wasn't deluding herself into believing that they were okay, she had mourned them already, but it was still unknown how they had really fared and the thought that maybe they were alive kept hope alive in her.

Her dad, her brother, Zia, and she had been visiting a museum in the area when their father had come down with the Mist, by this time it had been in its last stage and so he had died hours later. She said he had thought they were safe because it had seemed like the virus had calmed down, and yet he was one of the last casualties to catch it. She was thankful for Walt because he had found her and Carter and Zia on one of the trips outside of camp to replenish supplies.

"He likes you, you know?" I interrupted, for the first time since I'd known her Sadie blushed.

"There's absolutely no way he even knows I exist," She replied, moving what was left on her plate around with a fork. Jazmine laughed.

"I've seen the way he looks at you, Sadie, I think Nico's right," She smiled, Sadie blushed harder. She opened her mouth and I knew we were both about to get a verbal lashing when before she could speak she was thankfully interrupted again.

"Early curfew is still in effect, people, everyone back to your homes, if you wish to have an escort one can be provided," Early curfew had been instituted as a way to make sure everyone got to bed earlier so that they could rise earlier as well. I smiled because Sadie cast her eyes towards Walt's table and quickly looked away, her mind obviously racing or else she wouldn't have been so quiet. She stood up, as did Jazmine, and turned away. I could see why she liked him, he was tall, he was blond, and he had _those_ eyes as she had put it talking about Percy.

"Goodnight," I almost laughed.

"Night," She said distractedly.

"G'night," Jazmine smiled. They took their leave; I sat there for a moment by myself watching people go. This was it. It was what I had been waiting for, Percy might have lost his curiosity the moment that he found things that reminded him of home here, but I hadn't. The only thing I had lost was my distrust of Chiron, actually I felt horrible about that still. Someone sat down at my table.

"Are you upset with me?" I looked over, it was Percy.

"Why would I be upset with you?" I asked curiously.

"We didn't eat dinner together, I figured you'd be mad about that, but when I was going to come over here to apologize earlier you were talking, so I'm sorry, I got caught up with some of the guys and I—" I kissed him for several reasons, one: he was adorable. Two: he had been thinking about me when he was with his friends, which sort of boosted the old self-esteem a little bit. And three: well, we hadn't really kissed much the entire day and I missed it.

"You're incredibly cute, have I ever told you that?" I asked him, leaning back against his body with his arms around my middle.

"Once or twice, but I could stand to hear it again," He laughed, nibbling on my ear. Then his teeth grazed over the side of my neck and I felt him tense slightly, "There's an empty cabin if you want to meet me in there after your meeting, I'll be one the guys standing outside the door to make sure no one gets in here," He whispered lowly, smiling as I looked back at him. What with our new roommates it had been a while since we had been intimate, which should have been a crime or something. God, those people were throwing us all off.

I nodded. "The cute one, got it," I smiled, then we kissed again.

"Maybe you should just skip this meeting so we can—"

"Now you wouldn't be thinking about ditching us already, would you Nico?" Chiron's deep voice broke the illusion that we were the only people left in the cafeteria. I looked over at him sheepishly and Percy broke out into a loud laugh. Dionysus and Silena sat after the accusing man had found his own chair.

"Of course not," I replied, looking anywhere but Chiron's eyes.

"Percy, if you'd step outside with Ethan we won't be long in here," Percy kissed the side of my head and stood. I watched him go, mindful of the way his hips moved in his jeans until the door closed behind him. Chiron cleared his throat again, "I'm glad you could join us," He smiled.

I turned, the image locked away in my mind, and said, "Thanks for letting me be here," then I looked around at all three of them. "What exactly is it that we do here?"

"We run the camp," said Chiron, "deciding what to do when our crops go bad, what will be needed when we journey outside of our immediate threshold of protection, general caretaking and inventory. But, most recently what to do when our enemies attack again, it's only a matter of time." He looked serious suddenly, "As you saw we have a hidden safe haven in case of emergencies but we can't be sure that they won't come with more numbers; it took almost all of our effort to hold them off this time,"

"I say that if they attack again we just open fire till not a one of 'em is standing," Dionysus volunteered from his side of the table, then he yawned sleepily. "Lot of good it does to have military trained men and women defending our doors if we don't give 'em the guns to do it with."

Silena leaned across the table to lay into him, "How many times do I have to say that answering their violence with more violence isn't going to solve anything? How do we know they don't have bigger weapons of their own, and that they're only not shooting us because we're not shooting them?"

"So we should just jerry-rig some explosives?" Dionysus growled, a vein pumping in his neck and he was suddenly purple faced. "Throw 'em until we hopefully hit one of those damn parasites?!" This had gotten started a lot sooner than I thought it would. I sat back and sank into my chair as their instant arguing became louder.

"No, I'm saying that if we can stop them before they even _get_ to the perimeter of the camp then there'd be no need for the fighting in the first place!" Silena roared back standing suddenly to hold her ground, they were close, comically so. I could almost see them kissing if they weren't yelling in each other's faces. That thought struck me as funny, Silena, tall and graceful, kissing Dionysus who was…not so tall _or_ graceful.

"Please be seated, you two," Chiron's calm voice wedged a chasm in the air's tension. I wondered how many times they had had this discussion, enough for it to be quickly become a shouting match, apparently. "We have another opinion I'd like to hear," He motioned with his hand towards me. "Nico, what do you think we should do in the event the Cloven attack again?"

"Uh…" They had just thrown me right in, but, I reminded myself, this is what I was here for. I let my mind run quickly, thinking out loud, "maybe we should set up traps outside of the perimeter, but let everyone in the camp know where they are so they don't get tripped," Dionysus turned his bloodshot eyes on me.

"Yeah, side with her, but if you knew any damn thing you'd know that people can get _around_ traps, they can't get around bullets, kid. You're both just setting us up to be quartered like livestock."

"That's another thing," I added, thinking quickly now, "maybe we should make another of those safe havens, or make the one we have a little bigger so we can put more light and food and stuff in there, being down there I didn't know which way was up we were so crowded." I looked at Mr. D. who was still glaring between me and Silena, " _and_ ," I placated, "if it comes down to it maybe we could use some debilitating, but nonlethal weapons?"

"That's a capitol idea," Chiron grinned, "tomorrow I'll set some people to digging out more of that cellar and hanging more lights in there, it was a test run anyway. I'll also put some people to preserving foodstuffs in a jar," He looked around, "can we come to a consensus on this? All for?"

"Aye," Silena said, smiling at me.

"Aye," Mr. D. said, "but where's the fun in nonlethal?" Chuckling Chiron rolled his eyes and continued.

"Aye, the ayes have it then, good job Nico," I blushed. Just like that we were moving on, I'd have to wait for my second meeting to see if we ever breached this topic again. "I've looked over the plot of land we set aside for our vegetables, just like I thought the soil was a bit nitrogen depleted,"

"I'll get right on it," Dionysus said, Chiron nodded. The meeting continued like that, plans for teaching the younger children basic maths, sciences, grammar, and histories fell on Chiron's shoulders most times but a few of the other campers had been teachers in their day. We built the schedule, it stayed on a rotation of people each activity going to those best suited for it, we talked about feeding the animals, about a drop in the water pressure in the showers, bringing in clothes for the coming Winter. We talked about every menial things that was on the clipboard in front of Chiron for about an hour and a half and I felt my eyes beginning to droop.

"Alright, I think we can adjourn for the night," That brought me back to full awareness, but I found myself slouching in my chair. I sat up attentively, "Thank you, everyone, and thank you Nico for joining us tonight," Chiron smiled.

"No problem," I said stifling a yawn. Everyone stood at one time without me, some secret signal between them that I must not have caught. I was going to stand but a pair of arms wrapped around my shoulders and someone kissed my neck at the next moment. "Hi, Percy," I grinned sleepily, there was only one person who knew exactly where that tender spot on my neck was and just how to rake his teeth over it.

"You ready to go?" His arms squeezed and his fingers rubbed the upper half of my torso. I looked at the three other counselors and mouthed an apology.

"Don't be out too late, Percy, we're running drills tomorrow that you need to learn," Chiron told me, Percy smiled widely, I looked up at my boyfriend.

"I'll be there," He said and I wondered if he could look any happier. "You wanna watch me learn some drill tomorrow?" I kissed him again, trying to soak up that goofy smile by letting it permeate to my own lips before I answered.

"Sure," I laughed as he pulled me up out of the chair and began dragging me along behind him quickly. "Damn it Percy!" I yelled but I couldn't help laughing at him. "Uh…goodnight everyone!" I called over my shoulder, as Percy tugged me along.

"Good night, Nico," Silena chuckled.

"Night, boys," Chiron said, Dionysus didn't say anything, but that could have been because he was making his way to the other exit on the opposite side of the room, Silena had been right he wasn't very helpful and now he was making his way back home without so much as a see you later. We walked out the door and the cold night air hit us before we had fully emerged from the cafeteria. I could tell Fall was officially here now.

"Bye, Perce," I looked over at the handsome figure bathed in the moonlight known as Ethan Nakamura, standing still vigilant as guard. His short hair was spiked in the front, he had a jockular face with cheekbones that gave him an elongated and smooth appearance, his jaw was square and freshly shaven. His eyes were the same color as ripe coconut and slanted slightly when he smiled. He was, of course, about the same height as Percy and was slightly built a bit bigger around the chest and his arms were thicker. He was talking with Charlie who must have come to pick Silena up.

"Later Perce, Nico," Charlie smiled almost knowingly as Percy and I made our passing au revoirs. When they were out of sight I laughed as he turned, still walking, and kissed me. Then he swung us around and started humming Marvin Gaye's _Let's Get It On_ and I don't think I ever loved his silliness anymore than I did then. When we got to the still-under-construction cabin he opened the door, still humming, and waited for me to walk in before he grabbed me by the waist and held me against his body, swaying our hips back and forth. "I been really trying, Nicky," He half-sung, half-spoke as he kissed my neck. "Trying to hold back this feeling, for so long," I laughed as we danced around a blanket that he must have laid down earlier. I should have known he'd planned this. "But if you feel, like I feel, Nicky, ow," He kissed my lips. "Baby, let's get it on!"

"Oh, my God, I can't believe you!" I said, unable to catch my breath from laughing so hard. He kissed me full on the lips, once, then twice, by the third one I was kissing back, laughter forgotten though now it sat in my belly and was transformed into blossoming joy. By the fifth kiss I was swaying my hips with him, leaning my head against his chest, he was still humming but it was more subdued now, his hands were running down my back cupping my ass as we moved. I gripped the front of his pants, unbuttoning them and grinning when he stopped me. "Lay down," My skin became riddled with goose-pimples as he ran a finger down my arm and I nodded, breath catching in my throat. The silliness was over, his goofy smile had become a small, resigned thing and his eyes were cloudy in the bright moonlight, I remarked at the navy blue color they had become, touching his cheek lovingly.

We kissed again and I felt his lower half grind into mine. Had it really be so long since we'd done this? I could hear my heart beating in my ear rapidly; I could feel my body trembling for his touch. I grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, casting it to the side so that I could lay my hands on his warm flesh. I unzipped his pants and he pulled them the rest of the way off, along with his shoes, before instructing me to sit up. I did so and helped him throw my shirt off somewhere with his. When his chest was on top of mine I wrapped my arms around him, our bodies contouring to one another as if they had been specifically designed to do just that. He pulled back and undid my jeans, helping me to wriggle out of them. Soon there was warmth everywhere between us as we were separated by only the thin cotton of our respective undergarments.

He kissed me again and I kissed him back, fiercely.

We flipped over and I was on top of him now, still kissing, still tangled, I kneaded his sides while he had a firm grasp around my backside. "God…" I groaned, nipping his neck, our hip swaying now something that felt deadly because there was hardly a barrier between our nakedness. His legs wrapped around my waist and he positioned himself such that my erection was pressing against the orifice therein. He rocked his hips almost inviting me in, my clothed prick throbbed harder. "Really?" I asked and he nodded, it was a rare thing for Percy to let me top, I probably could at any time if I asked but I liked going with the flow of it and I liked giving just as much as I liked receiving. I held his legs up and pulled his boxers up and over, then did the same with my own and with nothing between us we were suddenly lost in pleasure. "Is there any…um…you know?" I asked him.

"Lube?" He smiled, "yeah," His body twisted, giving me a good look at the muscular obliques lining his sides, I ran my hand over them, eliciting a tiny shiver that caused blood to suddenly swell below my waist, my erection pounded, becoming almost painfully stiff. I ground it against Percy and he smiled over his shoulder, still rustling in the darkness looking for the lubrication. "Eager, darlin'?" He asked with a grin.

"You have no idea," I replied, smiling myself.

"Here it is," He turned back over, leaning up and popping the cap he squeezed a generous amount onto his taut entryway, then he guided my fingers letting me know exactly what he wanted. I pushed a digit inside with little resistance, I could feel him forcibly relaxing around my intrusion and he moaned. I leaned up, pressing our lips together as his legs flexed around me, and I swallowed another of his moans. Digging my finger in, then pulling it back out I repeated the motion till I felt it was okay to insert another one. I smirked down on him, knowing this is what he saw when he did this to me, his eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth was hanging open. I made sure to leave him plenty of visible bite markings all along his neck; they were glaring at me in their red glory, still slick with my saliva. His fuzzy thighs clenched and I grinned this time. I looked lower, his chest and torso were thickly decorated with curly black hair that was soft to the touch, his impressive stiffy towered, saluting in the air. I grabbed him around his base, pumping it in the tempo of my scissoring fingers. " _Oh_ , _fuck_." He groaned underneath me. He throbbed in my hands, veiny prick valiantly standing up to the onslaught of my ministrations. "Fuck, Nico, goddamn it that feels—," He bit his lips and his eyes squeezed together even tighter. "Ah! Okay, okay, enough, Nicky, I can't take much more," He panted. I chuckled under my breath and pushed my fingers in deeper pressing directly into his prostate causing him to curse loudly again as his warmth clenched around my fingers.

I had him literally had him in the palm of my hand, he was so vulnerable I couldn't help but play with him just a little; it was only fair. I took a step back on my knees and hunched over, swallowing his cock down and holding onto his hip with my other hand, the one that wasn't probing him, so he wouldn't buck up and choke me. He fisted a handful of my hair and I vibrated my throat, I could taste him as precum leaked from the very tip of his bulbous headed manhood and I knew that I had brought him very close to the edge.

"Nico, shit—!" I let up on him, giving him one last lick and stroking him again.

"Yes?" I asked, kissing his lips. His eyes were dangerous now, haunted almost, lighting a flame of pleasure in my chest.

"I need you to fuck me," He said, his voice low and his face flushed. "now." I smiled again and nodded, grabbing the bottle of lube and coating myself with it. We readjusted and again he wrapped his muscular thighs around my waist, lifting his buttocks off the ground and laying back, his gaze dark and expectant. I lined up with his warm, slick hole and met his lusty stare.

"Ready?" I asked, and he nodded, then I pushed in.

I was only slightly aware of the fact that I was being dressed. I was beyond tired and the moon was rather low in the sky because it was dark all around. I was covered in a sweat that had now run cold thanks to the chill of the night and I knew that we smelled like sex but I didn't care. Percy was cooing in my ear, which I would have reprimanded him for any other time but during pillow talk I always allowed things I might not otherwise.

"Come on, Nicky," Percy whispered. "God, you rock," I felt a smile on my lips as I drifted off to sleep, not even caring that he had picked me up as he carried me back to our dorm. The world outside was cold, but I snuggled into his warmth, his scent drifting deeply into my nose as I inhaled his musk. The next thing I knew I was laying in bed and he was crawling in beside me, wrapping his arms around me. Lips pressed against the side of my head sweetly and I leaned into him. "G'night," He whispered. "I love you,"

"Love you too," I mumbled, finally drifting away. Somehow it had become an incredibly good day, and I prayed vehemently that I would have many, many more.


	14. Chapter 14

**NOTE: POSTED WITH PERMISSION**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Fourteen:** Reprieve

Being from the lower end of California I'm not entirely used to seeing snow, every once in a while my family would travel up north for the holidays but snow was something that I had glimpsed maybe every six years depending on my dad's leniency towards taking a vacation. So when there was a small flurry I probably shouldn't have been propped against the window with my nose pressed to the glass, but I couldn't really help myself. It had started out at the beginning of the month as sleeting rain, and then it turned into these dizzying flurries and I could only wonder what would happen after this. Would I actually see an all white Christmas for once; I was actually really hopeful I would. Snowball fights, building snowmen, sledding, I was looking forward to it all because I'd never really done it before.

I looked over at our bed where Percy's still sleeping form shifted in the sheets, our fireplace was roaring happily, the logs popping every now and then, but radiating heat outward. It was so cozy, even with all the other guys gathered around us. We had rebuilt the other cabins but it seemed silly to move them all out now, there was a sort of oneness that came with being a full Cabin 3; plus, Percy really did need more people like himself around. I smiled and turned my attention back to the window; just as quickly as it had come the snow had stopped. It wasn't cold enough for it to stick to the ground just yet but it had been fun to watch.

It was still pretty early in the morning; the clouds above were slow-moving sheets of gray that left little to no sky visible, it was incredibly dark outside. When the knock came I jumped a little; it wasn't a jarring knock, in fact it wasn't even very loud, but it was surprising all the same because it disturbed the stillness of my morning. I went over to the door when I saw that no one had been woken by the slight interruption and I answered it. The first thing that hit me upon opening the door was the freezing Winter's air, being that I was only wearing a loose shirt and a pair of boxers I was instantly frozen to the bone. Then I focused on who was standing there, it was Silena. "Hi," She said as I let her in.

"H-hi," I chattered, my teeth knocking together as I closed the door. I was used to her impromptu visits by now, her boyfriend lived in the cabin and she and I were basically co-workers so she had become a constant in my daily life. Over the past two months being a camp counselor had allowed me to deal more and more with my problem with people. Seeing me now you would have never guessed at who I had been before. I tried not to think about the old me, if I dwelled on him too long I'd probably revert back into him so instead I paid attention the blonde girl standing in front of me wearing ear muffs. She passed something into my hands, a cup.

"Hot chocolate," She said, I took a sip and closed my eyes.

"Mm-mm!" Silena laughed.

"Yeah, I make a pretty mean cup of the stuff. Listen, some of the girls and I are going to make a run to get Winter-clothes for the entire camp, you remember me saying something about that a couple-a months back? Why don't you get dressed and come with?"

I took another sip of the hot chocolate, it was creamy and sweet and just plain delicious, however; the thought of sitting around with a bunch of giggly girls while they picked out clothes just wasn't very appealing to me. "I don't know, Silena, I might be gay but I'm not _that_ gay." She laughed again.

"Come on, it won't be that bad, we really like having you around. Besides, if I can get you to come it'll make convincing Charlie and Percy easier. Chiron won't allow civilians off the campgrounds without at least three Party Ponies," She grabbed my hand, "We don't just get regular clothes either," She smiled deviously then. "Sometimes we pick up little numbers that our respective boyfriends might like better in private." My vision cut over to Percy, then I felt myself blushing.

"If you're trying to bribe me by telling me this trip could lead to more sex with my boyfriend then I think you know me a little too well," I said at length and she laughed. Then I sighed overdramatically, "Fine, I'll go. Just as long as you promise I don't have to try on tons of clothes,"

"I promise that you only have to try on things we think you might like cute in," She grinned. I rolled my eyes, "Great! You wake Percy, I'll wake my Charlie-Bear," Before I might have made a huge deal about her proposal, before I might have sneered at her and told her I thought that shopping was incredibly stupid. Before I might have even insulted her just to get her to stop talking to me, but that was before.

"Hey, who's the third Party Pony going to be?" I asked.

"She's already waiting with the girls, it's Zoe." Silena answered.

I nodded my head and made my way over to the bed. I pulled back the covers and climbed in. I wrapped my arms around Percy as I heard Silena going, "Charlie, baby, Chaaaarlie."

Percy turned over and pulled me close, "You awake?" I asked him but he didn't answer. "Percy…" I said a bit more incessantly, then he chuckled in a low voice and I felt his lips on my face.

"What's going on?" He asked, sounding both groggy and incredibly sexy, his body flexed against mine and it took all of one second for me to think about telling Silena that today wouldn't work for me. But, I'd already agreed to going and she needed another Pony. I put my head against his chest for a moment and he kissed the top of my hair. "Talk to me, Nicky,"

"I have a favor to ask," I said, smiling when his fingers rubbed my side.

"You know I'll do anything you want," He replied. "What is it?" He was tangling our legs together, which would make it even harder for me to want to get out of bed. For a long second I closed my eyes and didn't speak, I just listened to his breathing and his heartbeat and I was perfectly content with that.

Then, finally, I asked, "Will you chaperone me and some other people off the grounds so we can grab Winter clothes for everyone?" He chuckled again, each minute movement passing from his body into mine.

I could hear that Silena had successfully gotten Charles out of bed.

"When do you want to go?" Percy yawned.

"…right now," I said in a small voice, he was still rubbing my side when he sat up, rubbing his eyes. I sat up too and I felt bad about waking him, he had had a late patrol the previous night and had probably only gotten five or six hours of sleep. He yawned again, nodding in the dim firelight.

"Yeah, okay, let me get dressed," Just like that, it was amazing. If he'd woken me up I would have protested and griped and fallen back to sleep several times before I even acknowledged his request. But, that was Percy. I pulled my knees up to my chest and settled my chin between them, watching him stretch; again there was a stirring inside of me that wanted to pull him back down to the bed and keep him there for a while. His long, long body reached upward popping bones which caused him to groan appreciatively. Everything flexed on him all at once, powerful arms and legs, taut stomach muscles, but my favorite part about the whole thing was the bulge in his briefs. He caught me looking and smiled, "You gonna stare or you gonna get dressed too?"

"I'm actually having second thoughts about it now," I said standing on my knees on the bed and running a hand down his chest. "But, that's your fault."

"Nope! No changing your mind now, put some clothes on and let's go, there's more hot chocolate in the cafeteria," Silena said coming over to us. I sighed and shook my head standing up.

"Damn." I glanced over at my sleepy looking and perfectly fuckable boyfriend and I cursed again. "Okay, okay, we'll get ready," I looked over at Charlie, he was pulling on a pair of pants with his wide expanse of back to us, then he yawned. Poor guy, all of them had been out late doing extra perimeter searches; since the attack we weren't taking any chances anymore, not till we got some traps set up around the perimeter of camp anyway. I reached under the bed and grabbed the clothes I had on earlier, a blue and white stripped long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. "Why do we have to go so early anyway?" I asked putting the clothes on.

"Because if we leave now we can make sure to get back before it gets too late and then get the clothing sorted out, males and females, sizes, you know? It's easier to do then to let them pick at it through their own leisure if everything's already sorted." Well, that made sense enough. I nodded and continued to get dressed, grabbing my shoes and taking a pair of socks out of them that I had stashed away inside. When we were all as dressed as we could be, and teeth were brushed and respective deodorizing sticks had been swabbed under arms she led us to the door and opened it again. The ground was wet, but that was expected, and the grass was frozen over with frost. It was already a cold, gray day, but I smiled despite that as I grabbed Percy's hand.

"Sorry I woke you up," I told him while we walked to the cafeteria.

"Hey, it's never a bad thing to be woken up pressed against you," He grinned and kissed my lips. I shivered and wondered whether it had been the cold or the kiss that had caused the reaction. I could only assume it was both.

"You know you two are adorable," Silena said just a little bit in front of us. "Aren't they, Charlie-Bear?"

"Charlie-Bear?" Percy grinned.

"Shut up you're the adorable ones," Charles answered over his shoulders, looking only slightly embarrassed. I wish I was the kind of guy who gave his boyfriends embarrassing nicknames so I could have teased Percy a little, but instead I settled for just smiling quietly to myself while he and Charlie-Bear talked.

"So what's your nickname for Silena?" Percy asked.

"She doesn't have one," Charles replied pointedly, Silena cleared her though and he sighed. "'Leena-poo," He amended, but she didn't look satisfied. "And Lee-Lee, and Baby Doll, and Princess," He said, face flushed a bit. "Come on man you telling me you don't have little nicknames you call Nico?" I blushed myself this time.

"That's enough of this conversation," I spoke up before my boyfriend could open his mouth. Percy grinned at me and grabbed me by the waist, pulling me against his hip.

"Darlin'," He said, his accent only slightly played up for laughs. "you wouldn't be embarrassed would you, Nicky?" I looked away. "Sweetheart," He said and I tried to pull away from him. "Baby."

"Why are we even discussing this?" I asked, my face as red as a tomato. I managed to wriggle out of his hold get ahead of him where I hooked my arms through Silena's and made her walk faster with me, leaving the two smirking jackasses behind. "Why do we need them again?" I asked her as we neared the cafeteria.

"Because we love them," She grinned, I gave her a pointed look which caused her to laugh. " _And_ Charlie's pretty good in bed, so there's that."

"Okay, yeah, I guess there's that one good reason," I chuckled.

"See, boyfriends have their uses," She tossed over her shoulder. "Isn't that right, boys? We get to use you to carry all the bags and boxes around." The trailing men behind us exchanged glances, which made me smile. "Well," Silena said to me, "they really don't have a choice in the matter, do they?"

"They do not," I replied, and then we were standing at the doors of the cafeteria. Looking through the glass paneling of the double doors I could see a small group of girls already gathered inside. Jesus, what was I getting myself into? We pushed inside. Sadie, Jazmine, Zia, Piper, Katie, Drew, Lacy, and Zoe; I knew their names upon looking at each of them. Sadie had her highlighted hair pulled back out of face and looked as if she'd only just recently stepped out of the shower. Jazmine looked a bit sleepy, but friendly as always. Zia, who I hadn't really talked to much, looked as if she would have preferred to have been back in bed as well.

Piper McLean was a dark haired girl, though it was close cut to her neck. It surprised me that she was there simply because out of all the girls sitting at that table she stuck out like a sore thumb, badly cut hair aside. She wore a frumpy army issued jacket that I knew had, at one point in time, belonged to her dad. Underneath her jacket her clothes were baggy and less than well taken care of, but that's because she was incredibly tomboyish. Still, even with her almost dowdy dressing style she was unbelievable, she was half Native-American/half Grecian from what I knew and it looked like she'd gotten the best of both features from her heritage: high, delicate cheek bones, shiny, albeit inexpertly tailored hair, and skin that was perennially tan. Plus, she was a pretty cool girl as far as people went.

Drew was an Asian girl I had never really had a long enough conversation to ask whether she was Thai or Korean or Chinese or anything else because frankly I didn't care enough to know. Of course, it didn't matter one way or another but still; and she wasn't the kind of person you generally likedtalking to unless you had the same type of sarcastic, sardonic, easily angered and altogether bitchy attitude she did. The problem was she was immensely beautiful, like, she gave Silena some good competition and that was just wrong. You can't be that bitchy and that good looking; there should be some written law amongst the gods about that. When she wasn't smiling in her condescending sort of way at you you could almost see the appeal there, her thick lashes, her sparkling caramel eyes, her button nose, and her plump red lips could get her just about anything she wanted; especially coupled with her body, she definitely knew how pretty she was.

Katie and Lacy were both pretty nondescript, they were pretty enough, you know? Katie had brown, crimped hair that rolled down to the bottom of her neck and big brown eyes. Lacy's hair was almost black and her blue eyes were very kind. But, it wasn't like I talked to them much, it was inevitable that with some people you just don't always make an enough effort. We smiled at each other and said hellos, and when we did hang around each other we were friendly enough but it never extended much past that. Still, they were both nice and I liked them.

Lastly there was Zoe and it was no wonder even though her last name was cheesy it sort of described her to a tee. Nightshade, Zoe Nightshade. Her long hair was blacker than black and seemed to absorb any light that tried to shine on it. Her eyes were hard and made from obsidian and her skin wasn't pale so much as it looked like she had never seen the sun, but the striking contrast of this all was that she was an incredibly warm person. _And_ she was the most capable looking of the girls (and, at length more than a few of the boys). She was one of the few women who I knew to be in the Party Ponies. Her arms were shapely and muscled, and if the rumors were true she had been a highly effective sniper for some secret branch of the government at one point in time. But, here she was along with the rest of the girls looking just as excited about getting off the grounds as the rest of us. She nodded at Charlie and Percy, both of whom nodded back to her, all respects mutual.

"I'm glad you could be here, ladies," Silena said with a smile, then she looked over at me and the men behind me. "and gentlemen, of course." She grinned. "As you guys know it's that time of year again where we have to make our run into the city, most of the people here at camp don't realize but a lot of the kids outgrow their clothes each year, we really don't have the resources to keep repairing them." She made a thoughtful face, "Maybe if we had a seamstress or a tailor we could have clothes made, but my own sewing is pretty abysmal," She laughed, there was a healthy chuckle at that from her audience. "Anyway, it's up to us to hit a few of the stores we haven't already, find whatever we can in the way of warm clothing, but," She added, "just cause we want to be warm doesn't mean we can't be fashionable, girls!" She looked over at us, "And guys!" I was all for pep talks, well, okay no, I really wasn't. It was early, and cold, and I couldn't get the look of Percy's disheveled appearance out of my head.

"Can we just go?" I asked with a laugh. "Some of us want to get back pretty quickly."

"Fine, fine, spoilsport," She returned. I liked that she was so good at leading; again we followed her out of the cafeteria (after grabbing a few cups of hot chocolate) into the bitter cold. We made our way to the edge of the camp, it occurred to me that this would be my first trip off campus since Percy and I had arrived and suddenly I was happy that I had agreed to come with her. Plus, I think investing in a coat would do me a lot of good, my skin was starting to goose-pimple.

"So, how are we supposed to be getting into town anyway?" I asked when we began to pick our way through the woods. It all still looked the same to me but as soon as we entered into them Percy, Zoe, and Charlie fanned out around us. I realized they were directing us and keeping up inside of a tight circle. I'd almost forgotten the woods were dangerous, our three guardians looked a bit more serious with their eyes cutting this way and that but the others seemed not to notice.

"We'll take a bus," Silena replied. "We found one this time last year that can carry us and all of our stuff, it should still be in working condition."

I nodded my understanding about to ask another question when suddenly there was movement to the left of us, instantly we stopped. We watched and we waited for a second to see if it would happen again and it did. Branches and twigs snapped as whatever it was came barreling towards us; Percy, Zoe, and Charlie formed a protective trio around all of us. Then, there was a familiar loud and whooping bark and a black blur jumped over the entire row of people proceeding me and landed right on top of my stomach. The first thing that registered in my mind was her smell, I had become lax in washing her, and then the fact that there was now slobber all over my face became very apparent quite quickly after that.

"Mrs. O'Leary, enough!" I laughed rubbing her ribs—she was well fed by everyone in the camp and I'm sure she had weaseled more than one meal a day out of most of the campers. She had me pinned to the ground, her tail wagging furiously and her loud barks hit me warmly. Her panting stunk worse than her fur as her tongue attacked my face without discrimination on whether she licked my cheeks, my nose, or my mouth. Percy whistled and she heeled enough so that I could sit up. My face were drenched with spit and I used my sleeves to wipe it away. As of late I let her roam through the woods on her own, she annoyed the pigs and cows to no end but the horses put up with her strangely enough, probably because she hung out at the stables with Percy on most occasions. With my new duties around the camp I hadn't been around much for her. We hadn't played fetch in only God knows how long. Seeing her made me think of Tyson, that damn lazy cat had gotten off somewhere too and I could only guess he was sleeping since it was his favorite pastime.

"She must have seen us going into the woods and gotten worried; that attack has her spooked." Percy said. True enough, when the Cloven had come I had heard of her bravery from Percy, he said she had saved him from being attacked from behind by throwing herself into a man that would have otherwise split his head in two with a meat cleaver. Then he went on to say that she bit and clawed at anyone who came close enough for her to that she didn't know. I could only guess how frantic she had been considering she had not known where I was and I hadn't known where she had been, truthfully I had wished for her to have been at the barn or the stables away from all the danger. I had had no desire to focus on both a dead boyfriend _and_ a dead dog so I'd settled for the prior and had sent my time in that little cellar praying to whatever god was watching for him to be safe. I felt bad about leaving Mrs. O'Leary to her own devices for so long for so often, but she seemed not to mind so much as long as I scratched her behind the ears like she liked.

"Can she come with us?" I asked, she would like the car ride—she had loved the trip up here after all.

"I don't see why not," Silena said before anyone else could answer. I smiled at her and stood and then I almost marveled at the fact that Mrs.O'Leary followed at my heels without me calling her to. Dogs were such loyal creatures, they had an enviable devotion that I wish more people strived for, but if there was one trait I was glad that humans didn't have it was the doggy breath.

We continued our trek through the woods now, plus one, and I was starting to feel a lot better about the entire trip itself. When we finally emerged we were met by a site I didn't think would drudge up particularly strong emotions in me, and yet it did. It was our car, the doors were still open from where we'd been basically held at gunpoint and it was parked rather obtrusively in the road, untouched. Percy seemed to hear my thoughts as they turned reminiscent of a time not long gone by where everything had been an adventure and he took my hand. Silently we passed an appreciation for each other between our eyes and I leaned against him. No one else seemed to notice our reminiscing as the group began to walk up a sidewalk.

The girls were chattering idly as only girls could, it surprised me again that even Sadie was joined in their conversation, she was blushing furiously and I could hear Walt's name every now and again as they had their heads pushed together. The only girl who wasn't partaking in their conversation was Zoe, she and Charlie were having a quiet, but serious discussion. "And what if the weapons aren't in the back of the van as we left them?" She was saying quietly.

"Then we'll be less prepared, but Silena didn't plan that far ahead. She's a bit reckless sometimes when it comes to clothes," He smiled a little to himself, the dimples of his cheeks turning up. "Either way, I never leave the campgrounds with at least a bit of insurance," He lifted his shirt slightly and holstered at his hip was a black gun. Zoe smiled a little and lifted the leg of her jeans, there was a gun strapped against her ankle.

"Neither do I, we can only hope those Cloven bastards were hurt just as much as we were when they staged their little coup." Then she grimaced. "How the hell do you think they found us?"

"By chance, probably." Charlie said. "But, if I were them I would have been scouting the area for a long while beforehand, had I located the camp I would have waited for the most opportune moment and moved in with a bit more stealth. Makes me wonder what the hell they still want with us."

"Absolution," Zoe said without a moment's hesitation. "They want us to completely and totally submit to them, that's the only reason I can think of for the amount of force they used."

"Yeah, but why?" Charlie asked sounding exasperated. "It doesn't make any damn sense, they go months without attacking us and then out of nowhere _boom_ right back to basics. They've never had that many explosives before."

"Maybe they're getting desperate," Percy volunteered, listening as intently as I was.

Charlie considered that, "Yeah, maybe, man."

"There's no use in dwelling on it," Zoe said. "If I see one of them today it's shoot first ask questions later," Then she smiled darkly. "I need to pay them back for this scar on my side," She gripped her hip almost self-consciously. "Bastard only grazed me but it hurt like hell." She recalled lividly.

"If I remember it right after he cut you you broke his nose and kicked him in the balls," Percy grinned.

"He got what he deserved, and at least _I_ was nice enough not to leave a scar." She cracked her knuckles menacingly and I could see why she was one of the scarier members of the Party Ponies, "Next time he'll do well if all I do is break something,"

"I just hope there is no next time," Charlie replied. That seemed to break up talk about the Cloven for another block and a half, after which we came upon an abandoned yellow school bus. Zoe motioned for the girls to stop and stay still then she and Percy opened the back of the vehicle, there was a large black duffle bag seated there. I watched as she unzipped the bag and pulled out a rather large rifle, she looked down the barrel, checked the ammo, cocked a bullet into the chamber and then set it aside.

"Looks like it's all here," She smiled happily, which made her infinitely more gorgeous. "You know how to use an M-16?" She asked Percy, who in return grinned—something passed between them, some discussion I had not been privy to. Then she rolled her eyes and said, "Alright, yeah, don't gloat. You didn't use a rifle to beat my skeet shooting record, bastard."

"But I could have," Percy laughed. "To answer your question though: yes, I do."

"Asshole," Zoe tossed Charlie a semi-automatic after she handed Percy the gun, she picked up the rifle she'd set aside for herself and shouldered it. "Alright, girls, we shouldn't stay out too long, you never know whose watching. Charlie, me, and Percy'll guard your doors while you guys find the stuff you're looking for," Then she paused and lowered her voice a little leaning in so the girls could hear her hushed but still audible voice, "If you find something you think I'll look nice in grab it for me." I smiled to myself because I'm sure she had meant for her voice not to carry, but it was very apparent that it had.

"Like lace panties?" Charlie laughed and she blushed deeply.

"And a cute little tube top," Percy joined in chuckling. She seemed thoroughly embarrassed, turning and raising a finger as if she was about to let loose the most humiliating insult she could muster but it fell short on her lips and they laughed again. However; the rejoinder of female glares behind her seemed to be more than enough quiet their jovial jesting all within a moment's time. The backlash was so great, in fact, that Zoe suddenly seemed smug. I think it was perfectly understandable that she might want new clothes but, of course, being that she was probably considered "one of the guys" among the Ponies her femininity seemed to have been in peril from sheer lack of time to herself around company that was predominantly male. Now, though, she was around an entirely different sort of company and that became clear the very next second.

"How about you try stuff on with us and we'll leave Charlie and Percy to guard the doors?" Katy asked.

"But, protocol—" She tried, though her expression was hopeful.

"Protocol be damned, this is obviously a fashion crisis and fashion will always trump protocol," Silena said decidedly. Zoe smiled, looking thankfully, I could tell she was holding back because her lips were twitching slightly more upward with every second. "You won't mind if we steal Zoe do you, Charlie-Bear?"

"I—no, of course not, Baby Doll." Charlie replied shoving his hands in his pockets and looking away. Silena elbowed me. I rolled my eyes and squeezed the hand in mine.

"What about you, Percy, do you care?" I asked after the second time her bony elbow knocked into my ribs. Percy seemed cowed suddenly; their small joke had been met not with laughter but scathing.

"I mean it's not like I mind," He shrugged.

I smiled and rolled my eyes again, "If you say you're sorry maybe you'll both get surprises later," That seemed to perk them up.

"Surprises?" Both he and Charlie echoed.

Silena looked over at me and smiled then, she knew what I was up to. "Yes," She said. "Separate surprises from me to my big, strong Charlie-bear,"

"And from me to you," I told Percy in what I hoped was the same seductive tone. "Just tell Zoe you're sorry for making fun," I said.

"No, Nico it's alright, they were just—"

"We're sorry!" They both said simultaneously. God, guys were so easy, just the promise of sex and we would do anything. I know I was just as gullible, too. However; considering that the gambit had worked and that I had used sexual wiles to get my boyfriend to agree to something (even something so trivial) made a flame akin to lust flicker inside of my chest.

I cast a quick glance at Percy, his face a day shaven and handsome, his eyes alight with possibilities, and his mouth set in the smallest, most seductive of grins, I swallowed. Such a perverse look, his eyes flicked over to me and a weighty gaze passed between us. It was like a spike of ice being jabbed into my heart so intense was that look. My skin became goose-fleshed, tiny bumps of titillation rising over my arm, I could feel my blood racing, and from having known Percy so many times I knew how he would feel. I knew how he tasted and I felt a craving to taste him again; a serendipitous longing that made my blood run hot and change directions. I bit my lip and his pupils dilated slightly and we stared at each other until someone cleared their throat.

"Wow," Piper said after a few seconds.

"Yeah," Sadie complemented her. "you can usually cut their sexual tension with a knife." I felt my cheeks flaring up suddenly and Percy put an arm around my shoulders and laughed loudly. He was enjoyed the attention, obviously. "Look, we embarrassed Nico," Sadie smiled.

"Alright, enough, you're doing the same thing to him that the guys were just doing to me," Zoe said. "Everybody on the bus, let's get this show on the road. I want us back at camp before sundown." That seemed to break everyone up as our protectorate force shouldered their weapons. Zoe slammed the back door to the bus closed after Charlie had hoisted himself inside and opened the side door. We piled inside and it reminded me of getting on the bus for Elementary and Junior High school, only we were all quite a bit older than primary school kids.

I settled into a seat beside Jazmine, whose long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Percy stood at the back of the bus while Zoe stood at the front holding onto the metal bar beside the stairs that led up from the lever-operated side doors. Charles sat in the bus driver's seat and cranked a key that must have still been in the ignition. The bus grumbled for a long moment, it sounded angry for being woken. It coughed and shook and altogether threw a fit, it sputtered and it shuttered and it complained again and again. Then, with one another turn of the key, it jumped to life all at one moment. "Better make this quick, 'Leena," Charlie said over his shoulder. Silena nodded and I could see her ticking off a mental list of sensible, yet fashionable, clothing items for the coming Winter.

We travelled to downtown New York City, if I knew New York at all I would have known where we were but considering this was my first real outing everything looked the same to me. There were a lot of numbered streets and tall buildings and if I thought West Hollywood had been crowded then I had had no idea what crowded meant before. The sheer amount of cars on the side of the road spoke volumes about how many people had lived here at one point in time as the bus bumbled along, the exhaust popping now and again almost rhythmically. I watched in awe for a moment as we passed by the Broadway theatre and a thousand little shops then I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. It was Lacy, who was smiling. I realized that I was the focal point of her, Jazmine, Zia, and Sadie's attention and I blanched a little. "Yes?" I asked, taken a bit aback from their unwarranted stares.

"Well," Lacy began and the other girls all smiled. "we were wondering what you were going to get for Percy?"

I blinked, "What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes roaming over to his attentive figure in the back.

"What I mean is that Zia is looking for sexy lingerie for Carter—"

"Which I am wholly against," Sadie interrupted.

"And Sadie's looking for something to catch _Walt_ ' _s_ eye," Lacy continued causing the bi-racial girl to clam up. "Jaz has got quite a few boy's attention, and you never know when you're going to need, well, _you know_ a few key items?" But I didn't know, not really. Though I had engaged in the act many times my knowledge of sexual education was a bit lacking, especially from a girl's perspective. I didn't even have a faint impression of what she might have been hinting at. "Me? Well, I'm trying to get Ethan to notice me. You've already got your boy bagged, what are you thinking about getting?" I blinked again, confused.

"I thought we were doing this to get clothes for the Winter?" I said, which was met by laughter.

"Nico, puh-lease." Katie turned around, Silena was grinning slightly from her own seat as well. "We do that too, but a girl's likely to go stir crazy sitting there with nothing new to wear for months on end. Last year Silena selected us to take inventory of some feminine things we'd need among all the women and girls at camp and then she convinced Chiron to let us come into town as long as we got jackets and long pants and things for the kids, 'cause they're all growing super quickly. But anyway, here," She handed me a bit of paper and I looked over it.

I read just enough to see, "Angela Taylor: black lace brassier (24C) and matching hose and garters—" And I stopped reading, there must have been twenty or so names on the list, probably every girl at the camp of age to wear things like brassieres. I swallowed, is this what I had agreed to? I just thought Silena meant a pair of jeans that might fit well enough to make Percy look twice. Obviously girls were under a different, more well informed impression of what men liked than I was. They had roped me into a scandalous little road trip and I was none the better for it.

"I—" I stuttered and I felt my face burning. "I don't think I'm getting _anything_ like this," I finally said handing her the list back.

"What?" Katie exclaimed.

"You _have_ to get something, Nico," Zia replied. "Carter's…he needs a little help when it comes to getting a girl's bra off—"

"I am not hearing this," Sadie laughed. "But he _is_ thickheaded, doesn't surprise me."

"So I thought I'd get something that clasps in the front, you know? Red works well with my skin tone. Maybe something with frills, I think he'd like that." I cast Silena a very, very black glare, but she didn't seem to mind as it rolled off of her, she was smiling still

"Don't worry," Drew chimed in for the first time since we had begun, everyone looked at her. "We'll pick stuff out for you, anyway; we might as well get the _good_ stuff for you too." She smiled sickly sweet. I didn't understand her, at times I had heard she was the world's hugest bitch, and then at other times she seemed to volunteer for things like that. But, I guess this was a point of interest for her as well considering the amount of admirers she had regardless of her reputation. I was going to try and not judge her since I'd not spoken to her very much myself, still, she looked haughty and if there was anything I hated it was people who looked down on others. Either way, at that moment in time I was glad the engine was rattling too loudly for Percy to be able to hear this conversation.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Piper said; though she sounded loathe to admit it. Everyone knew she hated Drew. In fact, Piper was my source for information on all things Drew-hate related.

Silena spoke up, "We help each other pick out clothes," She explained further. "Tops and blouses and pants. I just thought you might want to do your own unmentionables though, but like Drew said we can take care of that too." Shit. That _could not_ happen. It was embarrassing enough when Percy and I got caught doing stuff, but these crazy girls were _trying_ to help in a department where they shouldn't have been putting their noses. They all seemed so open about it, though. I wondered if this was normal, if girls really did talk about everything with each other?

"But what if—" The bus clattered to a stop ending whatever I might have been about to say.

"We're here, everybody out." Charlie called from the front. I caught Silena's eye and she stayed behind as the girls all descended and I pulled her closer by the arm.

"Hey, I definitely said I wasn't into all of this," I whispered venomously to her and she smiled.

"I know, but I figured you'd want to get out of camp for a little while while the getting's good, right? I mean we only saw the city once this same time last year. Until we can get the Cloven under control we're basically being held prisoner at Halfblood. Besides, if you're lucky you might actually find out how fun this stuff can be."

"But I don't know anything about this stuff, lacy stuff and frills and junk." I replied.

"You leave that up to us," She patted the top of my head. "Oh, and we've got to get you some conditioner. You've got great hair but it needs more body," She leaned in a little closer, "Maybe some facial stuff too."

"Ugh!" I exclaimed and pushed past her. "You don't understand!"

"Wait, Nico, I promised it wouldn't be that bad, remember? It won't!" She called after me.

It was that bad. Oh, God, it was worse than bad. After we had acquired a nice ransom of Winter apparel for just about everyone in the camp (long johns, thick wools, scarves, gloves, jackets, things of the like) we were inside of a boutique. The same kind of boutique where everything is in French and there are shoes on the wall whose price could pay someone's rent for the month, and whose dresses are seen on runways and I was suddenly unsure of everything as the girls pulled the curtains closed and shut Percy and Charlie outside the door with Mrs. O'Leary playing the part of guard dog.

"Alright, Nico, I'll go first to show you how it's done." Silena said once the lights were officially cut on, then on some unseen cue all of the others except for me and Zoe fanned out, scanning the aisles and aisles of clothing. "The girls know my measurements so they look for stuff in my size, they also know what I like, you know, pretty colors, flowy skirts, cute jeans, and I have a thing for heels so there's that. They bring whatever they find that they think I'll like up here and dump it all out, I'm going to examine it all and pick a few outfits, then we do the same for every other girl, and you."

"But this is a girl's store," I said, feeling meek and helpless.

"You can still wear the jeans," She smiled. "I guarantee they'll fit better than those baggy things boys are always wearing. Don't be afraid to go skin tight," Did I mention it was bad? I watched as slowly but surely a large pile of things that actually did resemble things I could imagine Silena wearing assembled on the floor. It wasn't long before shoes, jewelry, everything was lined up in front of us.

"What about the women back at camp that didn't get to come?" I asked her. "Seems a little unfair."

"No, not really. If a girl who didn't come sees something I'm wearing that she likes I'll let her borrow it, and the same is true if something is on their lists and I want to wear it. It's a system of trade and exchange. Plus, next year if we're still here I'll change up who comes with us," I just shook my head, amazed. Then Silena clapped her hands and the others came back. "This looks good, let's do Nico now."

Sadly they found quite a few things they thought I would like and piled it in front of me. There were a lot of black skinny jeans. I must have been sending out some weird vibe that I liked those or something, really I had never been much into skinnies but I was too flabbergasted by how well oiled a machine the girls were. They did Zoe next, then Lacy, then Drew, then Sadie, Katie, Jazmine, and finally Piper. Now, up till this point this entire endeavor had only been slightly annoying, but it was when everyone had their own piles of clothing and were sifting through them that things started getting out of hand.

Girls started coming out of their shirts unabashed, bits of pink, tan, and just naturally brown flesh presented itself to the room unashamedly. I averted my eyes and stared down at the pile of clothes that were my own. "Hey, that's cute," I heard someone say, it was Jaz. "Try this on, I think it'd fit better on you."

"Do these bottoms match?" I could hear Zia saying, my eyes flicked up once and she was standing in front of me in her undergarments. I'm not saying that I was turned on by any of this, I really wasn't, you know? But I don't think I'm the only person in the world who would get flustered if people started taking their clothes off around him, even—and probably especially—if he wasn't attracted to them and didn't know them _that_ well. All that being said she was lovely, they all were. I knew they were pretty girls; you would have to be blind not to see that. Her slim neck delicate led down to an expanse of enviably exposed collarbone which then led into strong shoulders. She might have been a sight to see with her red bustier and bottoms that were in fact matches simply because she was shapely and well put together; from her breasts to her legs there was a beautiful roundness to her body that made her skinniness somehow more attractive.

I looked down again as Silena paraded past me half-naked, skin milky white to Zia's coffee brown. "Yes," I said in a voice much smaller than my own.

"Aren't you going to try some of that on? We can't stay here all day we've got other stores to get to," Silena asked, looking in a mirror at a very elegant black cocktail dress. After giving herself a once over and twirling around to see the back she quickly shimmied out of it.

"I…I'm really not comfortable changing in front of all of you," I admitted, if they were going to show so much bare skin I could at least tell them that much.

"There's no need to be embarrassed," Silena said. "It's not like we're going to laugh at you, sweetie. You're a nice looking boy," Her words were encouraging but I wasn't so easily swayed out of my clothing.

"Maybe he's afraid of girls?" Sadie prompted.

"Could be," Piper agreed.

"I'm not _afraid_ of girls," I said with a bit more bite than was probably necessary. "It's just I'm new to the whole uncomfortable concept of taking my clothes off in front of other people."

"There's a dressing room back through there if you want to use it," Silena said, pointing. "But, it's probably easier to just change out here."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, so we can tell you how it looks when you've tried it on, of course. That way you don't have to keep rushing in and out of the dressing room." She said as if it were just that plain simple. I sighed.

"Would it go faster?" I asked after a length of time, she rolled her eyes.

"I know we're on a tight schedule but there's no need to be impatient," Then she amended, "And probably, it depends on how fast you are. Sadie and Piper are done with their piles," I looked over, sure enough the girls were folding the clothes they liked and putting them in bags from behind the counter, they were also dressed again. The others only had a few items left as well.

"Alright. Just don't stare, okay?" Silena laughed and that irked me a little.

"Nico, you're cute, really you are, but I think I speak for all of us when I say you're more the little brother type." She replied, there were a few nods of agreement all around. I was the one to roll his eyes this time. "Besides, this all stays here, between us girls."

"Psh. Whatever, I'm not getting naked if that's what you mean." My pride as a man was more wounded than anything, I'm sure.

"No one's naked either Nico. God, you really are afraid of girls after all, aren't you?" Again she laughed. Whatever, I didn't care what they thought. Percy thought I was more than the "little brother" type and he'd showed it on more than one occasion. With that thought I came out of my shirt in a huff, then, in a show of impatience and irritation I did the same with my pants and I stood there in my boxers (thankful that I hadn't worn briefs today) with my arms crossed over my chest in a conciliatory manner. "Here," She said about to hand me a new pair of jeans when the door came open suddenly.

"Girls, you're taking forever—Holy Mother of God," Percy blinked from the threshold, "…it's…it's beautiful." He and Charlie, whose face poked around the door next, shared a similar expression: wide-eyes and wider grins.

I'm only assuming this was quite a noteworthy scene in their minds, but I'm sure it was.

"Out!" One of the girls screamed. "Close the damn door!" It closed the next moment after a quickly muttered, and very insincere sounding, apology. Oh, God, did I say it was bad? This was worse. Way worse. I couldn't help but wonder to myself if I was ever going to make it through a day without feeling half as embarrassed as I had just then?

Very hurriedly after that I tried on different pants and was given a yay or nay on whether they looked good or not. Afterwards I changed back into my regular clothes and took the bags given to me by Silena that contained my new stuff. I suppose I should have been thankful for the help but I wasn't quite so much thankful as slightly emasculated.

It took three different stops after that (one of them being a lingerie place, which they dragged me inside) for us to make it to two conjoined haberdasheries, a men's clothing stores. Percy and Charlie—who were actually allowed in this time—kept elbowing and nudging me and I knew they wanted to talk in private about what they'd seen but I didn't want to deal with them. When we got inside the store I noticed that one half of it was sports and casual oriented and the other half was for dressier occasions. The girls started throwing everything haphazardly into bags as soon as they were through the doors; we were loaded down with boxes and bags by this point.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Boys are easier to shop for, most of them at camp don't care what they get. The few that do usually find the good stuff first." Silena replied. "Katie and Drew are waiting over there for you," She pointed and I saw them.

"What do they want?" I asked.

"Well, I told you we were going to get you some unmentionables," She said with a small smile. Before I could protest Katie's strong hand were dragging me towards where she and Drew had been waiting.

"Goddamn it, I'm not trying _any_ of that on." I said looking down at what they had gathered so far. "There's nothing to this, or this, and why is the crotch made of mesh in this one? You can see straight through it."

"Uh, that's the point, Nico." Drew informed me.

"But why would you purposefully buy…" It took a minute but it clicked in my mind. "Oh. _Oh_." I said when the lightbulb finally flickered to life inside of my head.

"I'd say most of it was just about your size, you don't have to try it on," Katie laughed.

"Yeah, just look through and see if there's anything you would not actually want to wear." I wouldn't actually want to wear any of it, but before I could get the words out of my mouth she beat me to the punch, "Okay, no, see if there's anything in there that you think Percy wouldn't like on you," She grinned.

"I like them all," I jumped at the sound of Percy's voice. "Especially this one," He held up something that was made almost entirely of strings. "I didn't know they made thongs for men."

"Oh, my God." I nearly cried. "This is the worst experience of my life." Percy laughed again.

"I learned a long time ago that you can't get embarrassed that easily, Nico," He said. "Drew, Katie I think I've got it from here. Thanks,"

"No problem, cutie," Drew gave him a wink and walked off.

"Yeah, no problem," Katie smiled and then was off as well.

"So, Nico—"

"No." I said.

He laughed again, "You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"I am not wearing a thong, Percy Jackson." I told him obstinately. "It's bad enough that these girls think they can just walk around me half-naked, I'm clinging to the last bit of manhood that I have left."

He grinned, "You've got _plenty_ of manhood, Nicky." I blushed a deep maroon color.

"You're horrible."

"I'll just bag these for you sir, if you see anything you want for that hunky boyfriend of yours just throw it in there, I'm sure he wouldn't mind modeling it for you." Percy pulled me close. "Paper or plastic?"

"Goddamn it," I said against his chest, and then I laughed. I laughed at the absurdness of my day outside of the camp. I laughed at the girls, and at Percy's antics, and I laughed because I felt free. I wasn't angry. I wasn't even mad, a little annoyed with how everything always seemed to play out, yes, as if life knew that I didn't like being upset so it forced me into situations where the old me might have been supremely livid and then made me realize that there was nothing to be irate about at all.

Percy put his arms around me, "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Life," I replied, chuckling. "Paper, by the way, plastic kills the environment." I smiled at him and he leaned down and pecked me on the mouth.

"Sweet," He grinned down at me.

When we got back to the camp it seemed to take a battalion of people to help us unload everything that wasn't immediately personal. Percy had most of our newly acquired and more intimate things to the cabin himself, followed by the dog. I felt somehow relieved. I don't know, a little time away had done me a hell of a lot more good than I'd realized. I helped usher a few boxes into the recreational center where, sure enough, everyone had begun to gather to sift through clothes. The women's individual supplies were given to them separately, every woman that came up to Silena to receive her box looked more than extremely grateful. Most of the guys of camp seemed thankful but not nearly as much as the ladies; which wasn't to say they weren't grateful, there are just some things the sexes will do differently, with exception here and there.

I hung out at the rec. center for a good hour or so before I decided to go check on my cabin and do a few rounds around the campground, then maybe I'd give Mrs. O'Leary a bath. When I opened the door I was met by simultaneous stares from about fifteen guys. "Uh…" I said walking in, someone closed the door behind me. "Percy, what's going on?" I asked him, he was sitting on our bed. He smiled a little sympathetically and shrugged.

"You, Nico," Walt said to my left. "You're what's going on, you've infiltrated their ranks!"

"I did what now?" I asked, quite confused.

"The girls, Charlie and Percy told us all about it. You and the ladies all naked together." Someone else said. I laughed.

"What? Really? Come on, guys, we weren't naked." I said, but no one seemed to believe that. "They wanted my opinion on underwear and stuff, I told them I didn't know anything about it but they didn't listen."

"You are a god among us, bro!" Butch, one of Cabin 3's inhabitants, said.

"I didn't know you had it in you," Someone else said.

"What was it like?" Malcolm asked, pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. I looked between each face, some shaven, some unshaven, but all looked eager. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Charlie was standing behind me.

"Hi again, Charlie,"

"Hi Nico, answer the question, please?" He smiled, looking almost pleading.

"You're all perverts," I decided aloud. "And you, Percy," I said, "Now you won't be seeing any of those new clotheswe got for a while for feeding these guys information like that."

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed causing Mrs. O'Leary's ears to perk up. "That's totally not fair. They asked, I didn't volunteer it, man!" I grinned to myself and walked over to him and on my way I could feel every last eye on me. I grabbed my clipboard from the nightstand and went back over to the door, I whistled for Mrs. O'Leary and she came.

"Move, please, Charlie." He stepped aside and opened the door for me. I laughed to myself again, shaking my head as I descended the steps. Then I turned again, most of them were still watching. "I'll say this," I said. "You should all be quite respectful of the ladies, boys, especially if you want to get to know them better. It would be worth it, I'm sure." Then I left them.

Guys. I smiled to myself. We're at least good for _one_ thing, I guess.


	15. Chapter 15

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Fifteen:** Subterfuge

I hadn't meant to stumble across something so huge, really I hadn't. It was a mistake anyone could have made, you know? There was still a lot at this camp that I had no idea about. There were schemes and plots and backhanded twists that I wouldn't have guessed in a million years. But, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself—as usual—I was just caught off guard is all. For a while now I had wrapped myself in a bubble of safety thanks to the serenity of Halfblood, the people were warm and we had all become something like a family but when I found out…well, I guess I'll just start from the beginning of how it happened.

No point in spoiling it all at once, right?

There weren't really any calendars around that I know of but the camp was buzzing because of the fact that it was Christmastime, you can _always_ tell when it's Christmastime, and everyone seemed to be in the Holly Jolly mood. In fact, before this whole episode I had been wondering what to get Percy for the holidays. More sex just seemed sort of…not monotonous but maybe too easy. Sex wasn't a Christmas-y sort of gift; it was more like a morning, noon, and night thing—at least in my experience. Plus, I really wasn't looking for an excuse to wear _anything_ that he had picked out for me the other week.

However; even considering the time of year it wasn't the only thing that had an electric vibe travelling in the air, a vibe that was almost tangibly shocking. There was something up, and I knew it. For a while now a lot of people seemed to walk around more stiffly, on edge and I wasn't sure why. So I went about my business, Percy and I would have fun in the snow on days we could both get away, and when he couldn't I'd find time with Carter and a few others so I didn't run myself ragged with work.

But, when I found everyone was gathered outside of the rec. center I knew something truly weird was going on. When I arrived the sea of people seemed to part as I came through with my clipboard, no doubt they must have thought that I had more information than they did because some looked at me with questioning glances. There wasn't really a lot I could say though; I didn't know why they were out there. A camp meeting hadn't been called in my recollection, hell, not even a counselor meeting. We, the counselors, had met a few days prior but not a lot had been said—hardly even any of the boring camp check-up stuff. Which should have alerted me right off, but I had taken everyone's quietness to mean that there wasn't really much happening.

How wrong I'd been.

A flash of dark hair and caramel skin was all I needed; I caught Piper by the shoulder when I saw her and I asked her, "What's going on?" I'd been on my rounds and when I discovered that no one was doing anything on the scheduled chores list and I had set out to find why all the normal duties were going unheeded. She turned around and I was surprised at the huge smile on her face. Piper smiled, really she did, but it was almost always a little side smirk or a just-barely-there grin. When she smiled like that it lit up her whole face in a breathtaking sort of way.

"We caught one of the Cloven!" She said. I looked at her, surprise even more evident on my face, and then around at everyone else. There seemed to be a mix of eager and angry feelings amongst the crowd. I was even more sure that someone had taken a live-wire and hooked it up to the emotional center of everyone's brains and the result had caused an people's passion to land on one extreme or the other. I moved passed Piper when I saw Dionysus standing at the front door, his arms were crossed and his normally hazed over eyes were clear, hard and unapproachable as if he were trying to deter anyone from getting any closer. Still I went forward and his concentrated gaze turned to me which made my steps falter slightly till I was standing right in front of him.

"What do you want, kid?" He asked exaggeratedly, glaring.

"What do I want?" I asked, weren't we supposed to be acquaintances or something? "What's going on?" I returned a bit angrily; he looked past me. "Dionysus—?"

"That's Mr. D. to you, kid." He growled and I felt my annoyance rise, I didn't really want to deal with him if he was going to be an ass. "And I'm not allowed to say, alright? Hush-hush."

"I literally _just_ heard that one of the Cloven was caught, I don't think that's a secret. Besides, it's "hush-hush" to them, I'm one of you guys, remember?" I said matter-of-factly, but he didn't say anything, his expression tensed. It was my turn to feel exasperated, "Where's Chiron? I want to talk to him." Again there was no response. I sighed in frustration and turned away.

Fine, I decided inwardly, if he wasn't going to tell me then I was going to find out for myself. There was more than one way into the rec. center. Bundling my gloves—which were part of my Winter's ensemble, considering the winds were frigid—I slipped them into my pockets and listened to the sound of my feet crunch snow on the ground; I walked around the building till I came to one of the side doors, I knew it would be locked but I tried it anyway. It was, of course, but that didn't deter me. I kept going till I reached the very back, I went to the emergency door and to my surprise it actually was propped open slightly by a doorstop, without a second thought I slipped inside and was suddenly thankful that the heating system worked. Walking down the dark hallway my footsteps seemed to be so loud that they echoed; normally this building was full of people playing games, laughing and yelling but it had been emptied out for some reason.

If you've never been in a recreational center then you should know that it's usually like a huge school gymnasium, there are indoor basketball courts, a track, bleachers, ping-pong tables, but there are also usually small cafeterias and vending machines, a tiny, barely furbished library, a little nook in which to watch television—or, in our generation's case to play videogames—they're places of fun. Or, they're supposed to be. Walking down the corridor I stayed close to the wall, all the lights were turned off so that the only source of illumination came from the occasional window. Still, I continued on, passing by a nursery that I'm sure at one point in time small children had stayed in, and that eventually when the people of the camp started procreating _more_ small children would be put in there.

With one last step I finally heard something, it was faint but it sounded like a whimper. I listened harder; there were hushed voices as well. Suddenly my heart was hammering in my chest and my feet became lead. I'm not exactly sure what I was doing in here, maybe becoming a counselor had left me feeling entitled to being privy to all knowledge of the camp—I mean I was _supposed_ to know about everything that was going on, right? That was what the whole me asking our great leader Chiron thing had been about. I _wanted_ to know these sorts of things, like the fact that apparently there was a Cloven captive right under my nose. So I had acted rashly without thinking and now here I was.

I considered leaving, to find some other way to face this, but before I could the voices were suddenly louder and I recognized them as Chiron and Silena's. I ignored my instincts to go greet them when I heard, "—drugs are keeping him sedated for the moment, he's still conscious but just barely. How the hell could you have let it slip that we had him here?"

"I didn't mean to!" Silena said. "Almost two years I've been here and I've never made a mistake, Chiron. You know people lurk about the most just before curfew, I was talking to myself and someone overheard." I ducked into a broom closet but kept the door open just enough to hear them.

"You almost cost me this entire experiment!" Chiron redoubled, his voice the closest to anger that I had ever heard. "For months I've been dealing with this patient, do you realize the level of security I need just to keep him here? How populated this building is? Now that those simpletons outside know he's here they'll be out for blood."

"Do you think maybe if we returned him to Leneus the Cloven would stop attacking us?" Silena wondered. Chiron sighed.

"Don't use that idiotic term for them," He said. "Leneus is a fool, but he's not stupid. If we send Maron back to him still infected he will know and think we mean to use germ warfare against him. He would retaliate."

"Then why not just cure his Mist and send him back? Chiron, this is starting to look bad." They were silent for a while, so quiet in fact that I thought they were gone. I was on the verge of opening the closet door to find out when he spoke up finally.

"This is my experiment, Silena. My brainchild, I won't let it go down in history as the thing that wiped out civilization—that's not what it was meant to be and you know it. I'll find a way to fix it, already it's nonlethal in the subject and those of us previously exposed to the first strain should be immune to this one—except Maron, of course."

Silena sighed this time, "Chiron, you'll have to tell the others eventually. They revere you; you're like a god to them."

"And in history when angered the people always try to slay their gods." He replied sardonically. "Once I've perfected the disease and turned it into the helpful cure it was meant to be all along then I'll send him back. If Leneus doesn't understand that I'm trying to right our wrongs then he will have to continue to send waves of his men because I will not give this up." They passed by me, I listened to their footsteps as they left and I felt gobsmacked. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, or what they had been talking about, but I was going to find out.

I opened the broom closet door and made my way towards where they had been. There were no other doors that I could see, no extra entrances for them to have come out of. It was the end of the hall, to the right led to the gymnasium and to the left there was a bookcase. I looked in the gym but it didn't look any different. I searched for a good five minutes for any other places they might have come from but I found none. Finally I gave up. I knew what I would have to do; I would have to ask Chiron directly what this business with the Cloven was really about. What he knew about The Mist and why he had called it his "brainchild". Suddenly I felt a lot less safe in that big, dark recreational center and I turned and left from it.

Once outside I considered my options. One: I could tell Percy everything I just heard and hope that he would help me. He would, of course. Two: I could bring it up in private to Chiron and risk his anger for eavesdropping, but I would have to bring it up tactfully at first to get as much information out of him as I could. Three: I could corner Silena. While I figured the third one was the easiest it was still prudent for Percy to know that something weird was up. He would _want_ to know. I made my way over to our cabin, which had become Party Pony Central as all the gathered military personnel came and went at all hours of the day—night being when they left to patrol, and thoughts of confusion ran all throughout my head. I wish that just once I could tell what was going on around here.

I opened the door and my name echoed all around me loudly in a way I had become accustomed to, "Nico!" several of the guys greeted happily. I waved, shaking my head at some of them who were motioning me over to play cards or board games, and looked around until I located a pair of bright blue eyes. I ignored the fact that whenever I saw him a warm feeling would creep into my chest, which caused my heart to flutter and my stomach to turn flips. I ignored the urge to run up to him and kiss him stupid and then kiss him some more after that. To run my fingers through his soft, rich brown hair.

Percy smiled at me but the look on my face must have said something because the next second it dropped and he was standing, telling Charlie and Chris he'd be right back to whatever it was they were doing. He turned back to me and made the few steps it took to get to the doorway, which I was still standing in. "What's wrong?" He asked coming over to me and I pushed aside another rush of emotions as I realized how well he knew me, I hadn't even said anything and he was concerned. I touched his chest and he took my hand. "Nicky?" I looked up at him.

"I need to talk to you," I said and he tensed. "It's important." Suddenly he looked serious, morosely so. His brilliant eyes were alight suddenly with emotions and I didn't, for the life of me, know why. My heart leapt because he looked like a puppy dog that had been kicked.

"I've never liked hearing that coming from someone I was dating," He said dryly giving me an uneasy smile; his eyes became infinitely more sorrowful. It was at times that I forgot how emotional Percy was—how very sensitive he was. It was because outwardly he seemed so strong, and to other people he was a rock, he was a rock to me as well, but I knew all of his hollow places, and I tried to fill them. He hated for there to be anything wrong and I understood that; I felt myself calming down slightly if only to ease his own yet unfounded concerns.

"Percy—?" I tried, but he cut me off.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Barring any previous topics I may have wanted to bring up with him my world was suddenly spinning. A shivering sort of cold washed into my stomach and I realized that it was disgust. I was actually disgusted by his question. It left a nasty, bitter taste in my mouth and it took everything in me not to gag. I set a furious gaze on him, which cowed him as his own gaze shied away. The cabin had grown quiet, all talking hushed and I could feel everyone's attention on us.

"WHAT!" I hadn't meant to yell, really, I hadn't, but I couldn't contain myself, considering. The others attentions towards us felt like static, growing rapidly, so I lowered my voice. "No!" I hissed. "Why the hell would I break up with you?" My voice was tight, the absurdness of that single question made keeping my fear, and now my irritation, at bay more difficult.

"Well, because me and Annabeth got into this really bad fight one time and—"

I sighed, "Percy _I_ am not Annabeth. _You_ are _the_ _single greatest_ thing that has ever happened to me and I would _never_ want to mess with that." I said, which made him brighten considerably—and caused me to roll my eyes. I kissed him, giving in to his sappiness once and for all unable to hold back any longer. He wrapped his arms around me and I had to keep myself from melting. When his fingers started to grip my hips I had to push back, his possessive hold was usually a telltale sign of the first stage of clothes coming off. "I still need to talk to you," I breathed, the attention that had once been on us was now, thankfully, diverted as a majority of the male Party Ponies preferred not to watch us kiss. "It's about Chiron. What on Earth have I done to make you even consider breaking-up as an option?"

He blinked, from his eyes there was a lulling of lust and again I shivered. He smiled a grateful and relieved grin and said, "Nico 'I need to talk to you,' is how just about every break-up in the history of the world has ever happened, ever. You scared the hell of out me." He gave a comical breath of relief, which made me chuckle a little.

"You're too fucking adorable." I said, to which he kissed me again, my lips lingered on his for just a second too long because I felt him grin and again I had to push away. "I would _never_ want to break-up with you." I repeated from the back of my throat, it sounded almost like a growl but I couldn't help it, he'd pulled the air out of my lungs and if my heart gushed anymore it was sure to turn to liquid.

"I know…I just panicked, you know how I get—" I put a finger on his lips.

"Shut up. Outside, before you make me forget what I wanted to talk to you about." I said and pulled him behind me, "You're stuck with me, pal, sorry." His big, goofy grin was enough to make me smile and the confusion from the situation became a muted memory, causing the other situation, the _real_ one, to blare in my head like a klaxon. I took a breath after making sure that no one else was around to hear us and I told him what I'd heard.

I watched his smile slowly diminish the further into the story I got and by the end of it he was frowning, which was weird. Up till this point I had not been aware that he was capable of frowning so unhappily—crying, yes, laughing? Definitely. Smiling like an idiot? It was his default expression; this, however, was new. "You were eavesdropping?" He asked and I don't know what I felt, a little anxious, maybe.

"Yeah, Dionysus was being all shady and wouldn't let me in; something strange is going on here, Perce. What do you think he meant by The Mist being his "experiment"?" I replied.

"Nico, you know Chiron. He's a good guy and he always has something on his plate, it takes a lot to run this place. It sounds like we're holding a member of the Cloven hostage in order to bargain for them not to attack us anymore…" Percy answered stiffly.

"What?" I said, dumbfounded. "That's not what that sounds like at all, Percy. It sounds like he's experimenting on this guy. He said The Mist was his brainchild, too." Percy sighed and grabbed me by my shoulders.

"You should leave it alone, Nico. It's none of our business."

"None of our—of course it is! If he knows something about The Mist don't you think we should be, like, investigating or something?" I asked him, feeling slightly irritated that he wasn't more upset about the whole thing like I had been.

"Why don't we go settle it, huh? We'll go talk to him. You're letting your imagination run rampant again, Nicky. Remember what happened last time you accused him of plotting? You found out his son got killed and you felt horrible for a week." Percy's eyes turned soft and I looked away.

"But this is different—" I tried, not needing a reminder of that.

"We'll just go ask him, okay?" Percy's face was conflicted suddenly, caught between loyalties. "Chiron wouldn't—"

"I _just_ heard him say it, Percy. God, does everyone think my hearing's busted? Even if it's not what I think it is, it's something." I said, he took my hand and then kissed my forehead. I looked at him strangely but he wouldn't meet my eyes. Then it clicked in my head, "You're hiding something." I finally realized, he didn't deny it.

"Come on," He said pulling me towards Cabin Zero, Chiron's private pavilion.

"Wait, wait! We can't just barge in there and accuse him! We have to be tactful—"

Percy laughed, "Nico, if there's one thing I thought you knew about me since we first met it's that I'm extremely direct." Well, that _was_ true. If memory served correctly I'd been naked hours within his and my first meeting. Direct didn't exactly do him justice. Blunt was an art form and Percy was an old master. "Besides, sneaking around wouldn't look very good on you. My Granddaddy used to say, 'A closed mouth don't get fed'." He smiled.

"What?" I wondered.

"It means if you want something you have to ask for it." He explained. "Like information."

"You're still hiding something from me," I decided as he pulled me along behind him, he didn't answer but squeezed my hand. I followed along behind him silently, plans for ambushing Silena now a thing of the past. When we arrived outside of the looming white-washed walls of Cabin Zero, so numbered because it wasn't actually on the blueprints of the camp, I realized that I had never actually been inside of it. Something akin to fear—anxiety most likely—reached up and took a hold of my heart. "What if this is dangerous?" I hissed and Percy laughed again.

"Dangerous?" He smiled over his shoulder. "We've been here for months; if it was dangerous here don't you think something would have happened? Okay, besides the Cloven attacking us."

"Percy!" I said yanking my hand back. "They attacked because we have one of their guys!"

"I know." He replied.

"You…what?"

"I know. We caught him a month and a half back, Nico." Percy said.

"And you didn't tell me?" I stared at him incredulously; he looked apologetic for a moment but then shrugged his shoulders.

"I couldn't tell you. You remember how you promised Chiron you wouldn't tell me everything he told you? Well, _I_ can't tell you everything that he tells the Ponies." For a long second we just stared at each other. "I'm sorry, I should have said something to you, but when he told me that you and Silena would have secrets that you weren't allowed to share well I just figured it was a mutual thing—"

"No," I said. "No, no it's okay." I held up my hand, my mind was racing. It hurt that he had hidden something, but it wasn't like he had cheated on me or anything. "Do you think he meant to pit us against each other? I mean, down the road if we never found out that there were things we weren't sharing?"

"Nico, Chiron saved our lives. He's saved just me alone on several occasions now," When he saw my expression change to one of appalled curiosity he gave me a benign smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm still in one piece, see?" I saw, but I still wanted him to tell me what he meant by that. He brushed it off. "I'm just saying, if he wanted to hurt us, or anything like that he's had so many opportunities to already, smarter times, times when we didn't have each other around." He grabbed my hand again. "Can we please just go talk to him? You're going to get all riled up about this and I don't want that." Begrudgingly I let him kiss me, I drew the line when he tried to tickle me though, I groaned and pushed him away for the third and final time that day.

"Alright," I said, though his fingers were lingering around my sides, causing light chuckles to emit from my throat. "Alright! Okay, we'll go talk to him. I just want it to be on record that I thought this was a bad idea."

"Noted, come on." He laced our fingers together and I stepped closer to him.

"You're a jackass, do you know that?"

"But you love me," He smiled.

"Yeah, well, not cause I like you or anything. I didn't _mean_ to fall in love with you." He pulled me even closer as we approached Chiron's cabin. "I'm glad I did though." I said with one last kiss. We climbed up the stairs to his door and knocked. I noticed that there was a mat that said ' _Welcome_ ' at our feet and beside that was a saucer filled with what I'm guessing was milk. There was a meowing sound above us and I looked up.

"Well, if that don't beat all." Percy smiled. Tyson jumped down and landed on his shoulder. "I thought you ran away," He said looking lovingly at the furball on his shoulder that had gained a considerable amount of weight. "Looks like Chiron, kind and caring guy that he is, has been taking good care of you." The middle part of that sentence was directed at me and I rolled my eyes.

The door opened, "Boys, hello." Our leading man sounded surprised at us being at his doorstep. "Can I help you with something?"

"I—"

"Nico heard you and Silena talking about the captive early and he's convinced that you're up to something," Percy said bluntly, if looks could kill then I'm pretty sure my boyfriends' face would have been full of daggers.

"Oh?" Chiron wondered, his eyebrows shooting up almost instantly. "Why don't you boys come in? Some things are better discussed in privacy." Without so much as another word Percy was walking forward, it took everything in me to follow behind him; he had no idea what kind of nest we might have been walking into. Or, maybe he did. He _had_ said that there were things that the Party Ponies couldn't share with the rest of us. When I made it inside I immediately noticed that it was unlike the other cabins in camp. His was a house. Plush white carpet lay underneath our feet, but ended as we left the foyer. The rest of the place was done in polished hardwood, there were windows but the curtains were drawn as usual. To my left was his living room, complete with piano, Tudor style couches, and tons of potted plants; to the right it led further into parts unknown. "Have a seat," He motioned to a couch, which was claw-footed, and it didn't feel like I had much more choice but to sit considering Percy had so completely brought us in. "Now," He said. "What exactly did you hear?"

Chiron was a man of intense expressions when the emotion hit, I'd give him that. His face did not seem to know subtle at the moment, unlike his words. He was normally good at hiding it behind a well placed smile but with no one else around his eyes razed me like a flame to dry leaves. "I was in the rec. center with you and Silena," I admitted, Percy was sitting beside me, which gave me courage. Suddenly I wasn't so afraid of him; if it got out of hand there were two of us against his one. "I heard you tell Silena that The Mist was your brainchild, that it was your experiment; and that you guys were doing something weird to one of the Cloven's people."

"Percy," Chiron said turning his attention to my boyfriend. "You and Nico have a very infuriating way of learning things you shouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Go on, tell him, Percy."

"Tell me what?" I asked looking at Percy now who seemed to be struggling with something.

"I already knew, Nico, about everything. I was still worried, you know? Worried for you because you had secrets, worried for us, worried about everything so I went snooping around."

"What did you find?" Chiron prompted.

"It's a cure, Nico." Percy said, still not looking at me. "He did lie to us; he's a real doctor not just a professor of psychology."

"I've got my doctorate in both, really," The man smiled. "So it wasn't a complete lie."

"But, I mean, get this," I was listening intently, not sure whether I should be angry now or not. "Leneus stole Chiron's experiment when it was in it's unfinished phase. The Mist—"

"It's real name is Myostiplednia, but the Mist just caught on and stuck." Chiron explained further, cutting Percy off. "I had been careless in leaving my notes out; I never thought that one of my own Party Ponies would break into my home looking for them. I swore Percy to secrecy, like I swore you to secrecy, Nico. If it gets out that I inadvertently helped create the disease that wiped civilization then I would be on the run before I could finish my work. You have to understand that much."

I swallowed thickly; my mouth was cotton dry and despite the coldness of the outside and the chill in the room there was a hot sweat on my forehead. "But, why?" I asked, more afraid of the answer then anything else. I looked at Percy then and I felt my anger boiling to seething fury. I couldn't not be mad anymore; my pacifying limit had been reached. I felt a whole new wave of vehemence wash over me. "If you knew then why are you defending him!?" I yelled. "He killed our families, Percy! He helped kill everyone!"

"I didn't do it on purpose, Nico." Chiron said. "My notes, my computer files, the virus itself, they were all stolen out my of lab by Leneus. He's an insane man who is incredibly too intelligent for his own good, he unleashed the virus before I had time to finish administering the last few steps. I was going to cure the world, Nico. No more AIDs, no more SARs, no pneumonias or influenzas, not even a common cold! It was _the_ cure all, I just had to deaden the live viruses themselves after I strung them together and add a final agent and it would have been complete."

"That doesn't matter," I was standing suddenly. "Because the world is still dead, Chiron. We're struggling to survive because you and your colleague, regardless of this Leneus' sanity this should have never happened!" I was furious and after everything that we'd been through my rage had a target. "What else have you lied about? You said you didn't know Leneus."

"I never said I didn't know him." Chiron replied. "I said I didn't know who the Cloven were, and that is true. Leneus is their leader from the looks of it, but what their agenda is is completely unknown to me."

"Maybe their only agenda is to get that Maron guy back!" I shouted. "Did you ever think about that? And what is this about you experimenting on him?"

The man sighed this time, "I was waiting to tell you this story for this very reason, Nico. Between the two of you Percy is quite a bit calmer." I had a retort on my lips but the aforementioned's hand grabbed me by the arm and silenced me, pulling me back down to sit. "Maron was one of the scientists who was in cahoots with Leneus, Silenus was their third, a deadly trio if there was one. They had access to my lab because they were my subordinates, studying under me. But, Leneus could not take the fact that I was so much younger and yet so much more pronounced in the scientific field than him and he and the other two rebelled. They had no idea the consequences of their actions would be so severe."

"But why?" I asked again.

"Because Maron, like myself and like Silenus and Lenus, was exposed to just the slightest bit of the virus before anyone else. We tested it on ourselves in its infantile stages and stayed contained underground for two years before deciding that it had no adverse side effects. He had already survived one strain of it, which his immune system could handle a second dose. It meant it was easier for him to be exposed again." Then, if his expression wasn't hard enough to look at, his eyes became black and unreadable, "Nico." He said. "I was going to tell you all of this, eventually, but I didn't think you were ready just yet. Hell, Silena's known since a few months after her arrival and she still isn't ready to accept the truth of it all. The Mist was a complete accident and it's out of my hands. All I can do is to help rebuild what I helped destroy and that's what I'm trying to do."

I was quiet for a long time after that. So long in fact that the soundlessness of the room was beginning to become increasingly loud. I could hear it snowing lightly outside, just the barest hint of audibility as the flakes touched the ground in billions before freezing over into larger hunks of ice. I could feel Percy's begging gaze on me, but what was he begging for I'm not sure. For me not to be mad that he knew something so huge? For me to say something? I don't know.

Finally I decided I looked up at Chiron whose eyes were still black and calculating as if he were waiting for my answer and depending on what it was would decide something significant. But, my fear of him had been placed to the side momentarily, regardless of the fact that every few months something different about his seemingly gentle disposition would be revealed. "I want to see him." I said, daring either of them to deny me. "I want to see what the virus has done to him."

"Nico, it's not pretty." Chiron said. "I haven't let anyone but Silena see him, and that's because she insists."

"Then I'm insisting." I growled. "If you don't want me to blab this to all of your loyal followers, if you want me to let you finish with your damn precious experiment that took everything away from me then I want to see if it was all worth it."

It was Chiron's turn to be quiet, he sat still having a silent staring contest with me, then he sighed, "Fine. But, you have to go alone."

"Wait—" Percy tried.

"And," I said, standing again. "You will _not_ hide another damn thing from me, even if you don't think I'm ready to hear it."

He seemed to struggle with that for a few seconds before he finally said, "Fine." Again, this time a bit more angrily. I turned towards the door, not sure how much longer I could keep my composure. I wanted to scream and shout and yell at someone or something—most especially at my rock-headed boyfriend.

"Tomorrow," I said over my shoulder, feeling my body heave. I needed to lie down, and soon.

"Nico!" Percy was up behind me.

"Leave me alone," I said moving out of the door. I heard him say something to Chiron but I didn't care what it was, I just wanted to sleep now, I couldn't take anymore. I had had enough of people, and conversations, and secret experiments, and diseases, and just everything. I wanted a lull after the hellish crest I had been unconsciously riding all this time, all the while thinking that I had some semblance of normalcy.

I wanted to cry, I realized.

But, I pushed the tears away.

Not this time.

"Nico!" Percy called after me again; he grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed at him. "You knew! This entire time you've been a damn Party Pony, you knew. What, were you all making fun of me behind my back because I thought we were doing something good for people at this camp? Am I an experiment too, Percy!?"

"No!" He shouted. "No, Nico, I love you. I would never—"

"Maybe I should have broken up with you. Maybe I still should." My voice grated in my throat, it was thick and sounded as if heavy rocks were being dragged over a blackboard. He was quiet then, in what I could only guess was a stunned silence. I felt the tears, hot around the corners of my eyes like little pricks of malice stabbing their way out. I rubbed at my face furiously and screamed again, this time just an angry, unarticulated sound, and I turned on my heel.

"I didn't tell you because I was happy!" He shouted after me, which caused me to stop. Happy? What the fuck? "I wasn't mad about it because if it wasn't for Chiron I would have never found you, Nico. If it wasn't for the Mist, if it wasn't for the circumstances I would have never been able to find you and I'm sorry you feel that way but don't ever think I would do something to hurt you, because I try my damndest to make sure you're okay every day. I-I can't live without you, Nico, and I'm sorry I kept it from you, but it just didn't seem important to me, not anymore. Not now that I have you."

I swallowed again, "I'm going to go take a nap." I told him, sighing. He took me in his arms and I tried to keep my knees from buckling but I couldn't.

" _I_ ' _m so fucking sorry_." He whispered in my hair.

" _Me too_." I said back tiredly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Sixteen:** Exposed

' _Okay_.' I thought to myself. ' _I can handle this_. _So what if my world is spinning a little bit_ _so what if I_ ' _m so very fucking upset and a little scared?_ ' I clenched my hands, it was true though, I was only slightly terrified of what Chiron was capable of now. For about an hour I had been staring at Percy's back as he slept soundly. I thought watching the way the muscles flexed and relaxed as he moved every now and seeing his body swelled and deflated with each breath would help calm me down a little, but it didn't, which meant this was serious. My head was still reeling and I thought that there was absolutely no way I was going to get any sleep tonight. Taking a deep, calming breath I listened to the snoring of those around me, some deep and grumbling, others light and breathy. The atmosphere was extremely comfortable as pale, dim moonlight shone through the cracks between the curtains over the windows and the fire burned low in its hearth, but even still I couldn't get cozy.

I stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows dance around, and still my stomach felt like a somersaulting acrobat on the high dive. I growled in frustration, I looked over at Percy again, the back of his head didn't provide much in the way of comfort, although his hair was getting long again, which meant so was mine. Pushing aside vanities I inched closer to him, wrapping my arms around him. He groaned and leaned back into me, which, during any other situation, I might have found extremely arousing, but at that moment I couldn't really feel anything likened to sexual desire. I held him tighter and pushed my forehead against his back, it made me feel a lot better at least.

"Mmm…"

" _Percy_ ," I whispered, he groaned again, obviously not taken my stance on sexual desire at that moment. He leaned into me again, pressing his buttocks into my middle which did incite some feeling but I just wasn't feeling up to it. "Percy," I said a little louder. He turned in my arms and put his own behind my neck.

" _Nicky_ ," He whispered back, I could just barely make out the twinkle in his big, sleepy blue eyes, and the hollows of his cheeks were pushed up which let me know he was smiling. " _Why are you awake_?"

" _I couldn't sleep_ ," I said and he tangled our legs together. He chuckled.

" _Well_ , _there is one thing that always makes you sleepy afterwards_ ," Percy pressed his lips against my cheek, at the junction of my nose and my eye which let me know that he had blindly tried to kiss me. I laughed quietly, finding it funny, but then he rolled on top of me. "Mm," He said kissing my neck. I laid there quietly, and I could feel his drowsy enthusiasm slowly swelling against the side of my inner thigh. He nipped at my collarbone, and I didn't want to tell him to stop but I didn't really want to do this either, at least not right now. For a long while I didn't respond, Percy's fingers gripped possessively down on my sides, he lifted my hips successfully and placed himself as far between my legs as he could. He kissed my lips, his own languid but fevered. "What gives, man?" He asked pulling back, finally noticing my lack reaction. "I thought you wanted to fool around?"

"I…no, not really." I replied, I hadn't turned down a chance to fool around since before our first time, I wondered what his reaction would be.

"What's wrong?" He asked suddenly. I wrapped my arms around him again and kissed him.

"I don't know, I just…I still don't feel comfortable about all this, about the captive Cloven guy." I admitted, he sighed and wrapped his arms around me. "I know, I'm worried about nothing, I just…I feel bad for him." I left out my suspicions of Chiron, that was something I just had to get over he had been nothing but understanding since day one. Percy kissed the top of my head and I nuzzled into his furred chest.

"I love you," He said. "I just can't say that enough, you're compassionate, more than you realize, and you're just…" He sounded like he was thinking suddenly as he exhaled happily. "You make my days brighter, Nico." I could feel my face burning.

"I love you too," I said, not nearly as profound with words. "Everything about you." His lips landed on top of my head again and his arms flexed. "But, still, is it ethical for us to be allowing this?"

"Probably not," Percy agreed. "But think about it, if Chiron finds that cure all we can rebuild society. Make it stronger and then when things started getting back to normal we could—I don't know, you and me could build a big house and we could have a farm, and…maybe some kids, or something…"

"Kids?"

"Later on." He amended quickly. "Besides, this guy he was one of the people who helped expose the world to this disease, as immoral as it is I can't help but think it's a just punishment." He shrugged.

"I can't wrap my head around that," I told him. "But I see your point, I still want to see him tomorrow. Maybe I can ask him some questions?"

"Whatever you want to do, baby, I won't try to stop you." And even in the dark I knew he was smiling. "God, Nico, you're just…you're spectacular."

I laughed, "You're really trying to get in my pants right now!" I accused him, trying to keep my voice as quiet as possible. "All these compliments and talking about having kids—"

"No! No! It's not that," He backpedaled. "I mean I-I've just been thinking about you a lot lately. A _lot_." He admitted. "Thinking about our life together," He was suddenly very warm on top of me and I wondered if he was blushing. "Thinking about how serious about you I am, Nicky, and I am, so very serious." I could feel my heart pounding, and at the same time I could feel his, the tempos weren't too far out of synch, both beating hard and rapidly as if they were trying to reach out and touch the other. "Don't dismiss it right away, okay? I want a long life with you, Nico, as long as I can have you, and longer than that if it's at all possible. Chiron's stumbled on to something that could give us that. Just…just think about that. Promise?"

"Y-yeah, of-of course, Percy, I want a long life with you too." I don't know if the feeling in the pit of my stomach was from happiness or residual anxiety or a mix of both that just wasn't sitting right together but it caused my throat to clench and I had to close my eyes to hold back tears. It had been an emotional year. He kissed me again, "I promise." Percy rolled off of me and all at once I missed him. I grabbed a hold of his arm and tugged him back towards me. "Maybe we can fool around for just a little, you know, to help me get tired?"

"Whatever you want, baby." He said again and kissed me, a kiss that I returned feeling overwhelmed and overemotional. As such on such a high "fooling around" turned into making love, long, passionate, love. It was the first time I ever cried during sex. Not too long afterwards I fell asleep being cooed in Percy's arms.

Morning came entirely too early, or better yet the early afternoon did. I sighed contentedly, snuggling deeper into the chest of the man I had fallen madly in love with, pushing myself in so deep that I could feel his soul caress me, its touch felt like the sunshine echoing around inside of me. His arms tightened and his heartbeat was like a lulling melody, one that made me want to disappear from the day and continue on in that existence of suspended happiness otherwise known as our bed for the rest of my life.

I could feel the actual sunshine blaring around us, heating the room since the fire in the fireplace had most likely burned out, still it was entirely too homey in there. Without opening my eyes I listened for the sounds of the others, aside from one or two snores I knew that mostly everyone else was out of bed and had started their day. There were perks to being so high up on the ranking list of people at this camp even though we hadn't been here as long as the other inhabitants, you got to sleep in late sometimes. After another minute or two of listening to Percy's deep breathing I finally, albeit it begrudgingly, sat up. I sat, scanning the room through squinted eyes. Tanner was in his bed, as was Adam, both of whom were two other Party Ponies. Then I looked over at my own sleeping beauty, he was lying on his back, left arm thrown over his face and his right underneath me. I stifled a grin when I saw the covers were tented rather inexplicably below his waist.

I crawled back underneath the blankets and sheets and settled between his legs. With a devious sort of smile I licked the towering mass and to my great amusement his body shuddered. Positioning my elbows at either side of his hips I wrapped both hands securely around his erection and brought the knobby tip into my mouth where I began to suckle lightly, twisting my fingers around the shaft and stroking both upward and then subsequently downward. Light flooded underneath the covers and Percy's sleepy eyes, periwinkle in the morning sun, stared down at me. "Well, good morning to me." He said. I chuckled, but with him halfway down my throat the effect caused something much more than mirth to answer. Percy threw his head back; his fingers gripped my hair rather roughly. " _Fuck_." I heard hitch from above me and his hips bucked, which made me gag a little. I was reintroduced to the darkness underneath our blankets as he let them drape around us again, but I didn't mind because his mouth had been hanging open and his eyes had been squeezed shut, making me feel infinitely confident. Swallowing down to the top of my right hand I moved it to hold the bucking hips and kept my left wrapped securely around him, making sure my tongue danced around the pulsating areas of his hardness. His legs found their way onto my shoulders, but he was tall so his feet stopped somewhere around the very top of my buttocks, calves taking up the greater length of my back and knees bent behind my neck. I bobbed my head, enjoying the way he had wrapped himself around me, and I listened to his barely contained grunts of pleasure.

I let him go and put two fingers in my own mouth, again the blankets were lifted and he stared down at me, before he could ask why I stopped I placed both of them against his asshole and understanding flooded into those pretty blue eyes. A smirk touched the corners of his mouth and I knew he was going to watch me; I pushed my middle finger in first, slowly, and took his prick back into my mouth at the same time. I could feel his gaze on me, but at the same time I got lost in what I was doing. I always did like pleasuring Percy, making him squeal and writhe underneath me. People figured since most of the time I bottomed I liked being dominated—which was true to some extent—but I liked dominating as well. I liked when we flip-flopped especially, me on top, then him, then me again, and ending with both of us sucking each other off.

By now I not only had a writhing, squealing Percy, I had one whose voice was getting louder. I had to finish him off before he woke the others. My spit-slick finger worked inside of him till I thought he could handle the second one and I pushed my index in as well. "Hnng—!" He bit back what I'm guessing was going to be a rather noisy moan. I chuckled around his length again, swallowing more, deep-throating him like how our many, many sessions of this had taught me. His crotch was in my nose and I could smell his sweat before I actually felt his skin go clammy, it was a strange, but wonderful sensation.

I curled my fingers upward, done with scissoring him, and pressed into his prostate. "FUC—" I watched as the covers dropped around his chest again, successful obscuring my vision, but before they had fallen completely I had caught sight of him holding both of his hands against his mouth, clamping down as if his life depended on it, he knew there were other people in the room too. I could feel my own erection swell to capacity after that thought, I had been fighting it, not wanting him to take any opportunity to put me in the same situation because I knew once he saw how hard I was he'd take the chance to draw out my climax as long as possible. Unlike him I was kind. The thought made me nip at the flesh on the underside of his penis, the most unmanly mewl I'd ever heard drifted to my ears and I couldn't help myself, I bit a little harder, then I suckled the area to make up for it.

"Nico, I'm gonna cum!" His was the worst whisper in the history of whispers, if anything he had just growled it at me in an attempt at sotto voce. "I'm gonna—" But I was all too willing for it, I sucked harder, my tongue now playing with the slit of his knob shaped head and not a moment after I took it (my tongue) to wash the underside of his cock with did he climax, shooting directly down my throat. I swallowed, not that I had a choice, and realized how much I had come to like the taste of him. After two very long shots, and a third more moderate one I pulled him out of my mouth and stroked him. A final ooze of semen found its way around my hands, dribbling along my knuckles and down to land on his leg. I licked it up, and then licked what was all over my hand. I pulled my fingers, which had been working furiously, out of him and then climbed up his body where I settled against him. His hand, large as it was, wrapped around the back of my neck and I swear his tongue touched the back of my throat when we kissed. When we finally pulled back he said, "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining, but damn I could use a morning that started off like that every day."

I laughed, though my throat was a little worse for the wear, "It's cause you looked so cute with your morning wood." I told him. "I couldn't leave you just saluting the whole cabin, now could I?"

"Is that your own salute I feel poking me in the balls, soldier?" He asked, sounding incredibly mellow.

"Yes sir," I smiled.

"Then it looks like I'm going to have to drop and give you fifty," He kissed me again and then flipped our positions. He sank down, kissing my neck, my collar, suckling my nipple, and then continuing on…

When we were finally decent—and by decent I mean after what happened in the shower—and dressed—and by dressed I mean after we were in more than underwear because there had been a pretty long make-out session during that part of getting clothed—we stepped out of the cabin, hand in hand. Early afternoon had turned to late afternoon, almost evening. The sun was nestled comfortably on the horizon and I couldn't remember a time where I had been both so happy and yet so hungry at the same time.

"There you two are!" Carter called to us as we entered into the mess hall, we were lucky because dinner had just started. "Damn, Percy, your face is going to crack in half if you smile any harder, man." I looked over at Percy, who was indeed smiling rather big.

"Hi, Percy, Nico." Zia greeted us, which we returned, she was settled with Carter's arm over her shoulders and no space between them. A crowbar couldn't have wedged them apart.

"Where've you guys been?" Sadie asked on the other side of Carter.

"I don't think you want to know the answer to that…" Jazmine laughed beside her knowingly.

"Oh." Sadie said. " _OH!_ All day? What's wrong with you two?"

"Obviously you've never been caught in the throes of lovemaking," Drew said, I was surprised to see her sitting at that table, but since Piper wasn't around it wasn't that strange. Sadie looked like she had a perfectly good response but I interjected before anyone's feelings could get hurt.

"I have no idea what any of you are talking about," I said sitting after Percy told me he was going to grab us a plate. "We slept in late, is all."

"Ah," Walt laughed. "That's why Percy almost danced up to the food line, sleeping always makes me float around too." I looked over my shoulder and felt my cheeks flush a little when Percy smiled at me.

"My god, you two make me queasy," Sadie announced.

"I think it's cute," Jazmine countered.

"At least they're not sucking face in front of us, I guess," The mixed girl agreed.

"You only say that because you've got no one to suck face with," Drew pointed out. "Walt, you're single, right? And about Sadie's age?"

"Butt out, Drew!" Sadie growled lowly, menacingly.

"Excuse me for playing match-maker," Drew answered, sipping her drink.

"No one asked you to, if and when I ask Walt out is my own damn—" Sadie's eyes went rather large, looking like dinner plates, and she stood quickly. "Excuse me." She said in a tight voice and then she sprinted out of the door. Jazmine stood and took off behind her.

"Anyway," Carter said, he gave us an exasperated glance. Something told me the catty comments had been happening for a while now. "any news about that guy we're keeping? Are they questioning him?" I looked over at Walt, who was beet red but aside from his embarrassment he did seem interested in the question as well.

"Truth is," I said and Percy brought our food over. "I only know about as much as you guys do, they haven't told me anything." I said, it wasn't a _complete_ lie. I still didn't know that much more than they did.

"Man," Carter said. "Chiron's got that information locked up tighter than Fort Knox, I wonder what's going on?" Speculation as to what could possibly be happening started up around the table, Percy and I contributing next to nothing to all of it. "Maybe they're in there beating him down, you know, mobster style?" Carter speculated.

"Oh, dude, totally, Chiron's a buff guy for someone who reads all the time; I bet he's whooping that Cloven bastard's ass." Walt answered. "Wish they'd let us join."

"It's not like you'd do anything," Percy smirked, "You still haven't passed the physical fitness test for the Ponies, man," I was going to say something, ask Percy why he had insulted Walt, but then I realized it had been a skillful misdirection in the conversation. He was getting them off the subject of the Cloven.

"Oh, I could totally beat you down," Walt laughed and Carter smiled.

"Man, you couldn't beat meat with a tenderizer." He gave the young blond's shoulder a playful shove and our table laughed. Before there could be a lull in conversation I leaned forward conspiratorially.

"So, Sadie likes you, huh?" It wasn't such a smooth transition as Percy's but I felt like it worked. Walt blushed furiously and his eyes shifted over to Carter, who's own expression had turned stiff.

"Dude, her older brother is literally sitting _right_ beside me." Walt nearly hissed, Carter rolled his eyes.

"My sister likes you, stupid." Carter replied. "I don't have a problem with that, I only turn into a mean older brother if I find out you've hurt her in any way."

"Carter, honey," Zia smiled prettily, "I think we should be more worried about Sadie hurting him, that girl can take care of herself."

"I didn't mean physically," Carter clarified. "Sadie and I haven't always been close, and I can only think of one time when some guy made her cry, but I broke his nose in two different places." Walt held his hands up self-defense.

"Look, Carter, man, there's no reason to threaten me, I don't hurt girls." He looked around as if he were about to tell us a secret, he leaned forward a little, "I've never broken up with a girl before." Well, that didn't sound so bad.

"Have you ever even gone out with a girl?" Drew asked, looking a bit suspicious.

"Yeah, tons, why?"

"Tons?" Carter asked, his eyebrows shooting.

"Not like _tons_ , man!" Walt remanded. "But, like a few, okay? Less than ten."

"Ten?" Carter said again.

"And you never broke up with any of them?" Drew wondered, crossing her arms.

"No," He answered.

"So, all ten—"

"Less than ten," Walt corrected.

"What's less than ten?" Carter wondered leaning towards Walt a little, his body inflated slightly, shoulders straight, and brows furrowed.

"…nine." Walt replied.

"So, nine girls," Drew brought the attention back to herself, "And you never broke up with any of them? Were you dating them all at the same time?" The thought had obviously not even crossed Carter's mind, his eyes bugged a little.

"What—"

"Well, were you?" Carter repeated.

"No! No, I dated each of them individually! What's with the third degree, Drew?" Walt sighed.

"I was just thinking, all the girls you've ever dated dumped you. That doesn't raise, like, a red flag or something? Have you ever wondered why?" Drew answered.

"Not really…just bad luck, I guess." Walt shrugged.

"Maybe you're a loser," Drew replied.

"Drew!" Everyone at the table but Walt hissed, she jumped a little, she hadn't been expecting that.

"What?" She asked looking at all of us. "It might be true."

"Walt, Sadie really likes you," I said giving Drew a scathing look. "Like, you have no idea how much. She's probably going to kill us all for telling you."

Walt was still unbelievably red, "I kinda figured…"

"And you really like her, don't you?" Zia asked.

"…yeah, kinda." He answered again, his voice getting smaller with each answer.

"Then just go for it man, before someone else does." Carter said. "You have my blessing or whatever, if that's what you're waiting on. I'm tired of watching you two dance around each other."

"You should go look for her, Carter," Percy told him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Yes!" It was like a second chorus and this time Walt jumped, but he didn't just stop from jumping, he jumped up and then he was rushing out of the cafeteria too. I chuckled, and so did mostly everyone else.

"I'm going to go too," Drew said, standing. Zia was the only one to say good-bye to her.

"Oh, speaking of Chiron, there he is," Carter pointed over my shoulder. I looked. And sure enough coming through the door with a book in his hand and a mug of coffee was our fearless leader.

"I'm going to go talk to him," I said.

"You haven't eat yet, Nico." Percy said.

"I'll eat when I get back," I told him, moving to stand. He grabbed my arm.

"Nico, you gotta eat." I stared him down, but there wasn't anything on his face or any in his eyes that said he wanted me to go. "You don't need to miss any meals," He supplied when I gave him a questioning stare. I rolled my eyes.

"Damn it, Percy, who are you, my mother?" I asked sitting back down.

"Wouldn't that make you Oedipus?" Zia asked with a grin, Percy stared at her in an uncomprehending manner, and Carter cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, but I gave her the satisfaction of a small chuckle.

"I guess it would."

"Who?" Percy asked.

"He's a dude that had sex with his mom," Carter supplied.

"Oh." Percy's expression was suddenly as uncomfortable as Carter's.

"Anyway," I said scarfing down my food, which had gone slightly cold. "I really do need to go talk to him, are you satisfied now, Percy?" I pushed my half finished plate towards him, he inspected it for a second, then he smiled and shook his head.

"You're going to complain that you're hungry in a few hours, babe."

"No, I won't!" I said.

"Alright, okay, go talk to him. Call me over if you want me to come sit with you."

"'Kay," I stood. "I won't be long." I stood and quickly made my way over to Chiron. I sat down without any precursor and I looked at him. He sipped his coffee and his eyes continued to roam across the pages of whatever he was reading.

"Good evening, Nico," He said not looking up.

"Evening." I replied stiffly, he looked up and smiled at me.

"Is there something you want?" He wondered. "Not that you're bothering me but I can see it on your face, you have a question." Then he chuckled. "But you, you always have a question Nico. That's why I like you." He closed his book. "Ask away."

I couldn't tell if he was being coy on purpose or if I had caught him in a bad mood but there was a particular glint in his eyes that I didn't like, "I want to see him." I said with nerves of steel, or, at least I hoped that's what they were. It was really hard to tell the difference between "nerves of steel" and "stupidity" at the best of times. Again Chiron chuckled, he nodded and he seemed completely different today then the man he had been yesterday. Yesterday he had been sort of nervous, sort of angry, and very upset.

"I promised you you could, I suppose I'll show him to you." Then he took another sip of his coffee and stood. "Come along."

"Right now?"

"An ancient proverb goes along the lines of, 'there's no time like the present,' I believe that stands to reason here as well. Follow me, if you will, Nico." I stood as well, glancing over my shoulder at Percy who had apparently not looked away from us once. He looked as if he were about to follow but I shook my head and I offered him a small smile. He sat and I followed behind Chiron.

Chiron's stride was long and almost galloping, I could hardly keep up with him but somehow I knew where he was going. When we were standing outside of the recreational center I followed him inside of there, his gait no slower, and I noticed that the building was still shutdown. The sound of our footsteps was out of synch, Chiron's were a drumming _heel_ - _toe, heel_ - _toe_ , _heel_ - _toe_ , _heel_ - _toe_ with no rest in betweenas his steps clopped across the floor quickly, almost too quickly; I was basically running to keep up with him. "There's nothing back there." I said as we neared the spot I had heard him and Silena talking near the prior day. "I already checked."

"You and your boyfriend aren't very good snoops, Nico," He said over his shoulder, he walked up to the vending machine. "If you were you would have seen this false wall," He pushed the wall behind the machine, hard. To my great surprise the wall clicked, and allowed itself to be moved backwards until where before there had been nothing but solidness there was a doorway. He pushed the vending machine out of the way so that I could look down into the darkness of the new void and I couldn't fathom exactly what was going on.

"Wha—"

"After you." He stood aside and motioned for me to step through. "Be careful of the staircase, it winds downward," But, I only stood there rooted to the spot. I stared at him unbelievingly.

"This is crazy," I said, and now his laugh was hilariously real, not an intelligent chuckle that showed his barest amusement but a very real gut laugh. There were tears in his eyes by the time he was done and I knew something wasn't right.

"Nico," He stood to his full height and I was suddenly reminded how very tall Chiron was. "You haven't even seen crazy yet. I told you that I was doing you a favor by keeping all of this from you, you're backing out now? After you and Percy forced your way through to learn what you know?" He crossed his arms. "No, you're going down the stairs. This is what you wanted, Nico and what you see down there is going to stay with us, I'll make sure of it. You've done well with trying to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, with making friends and gaining respect, hell, even I respect you Nico. But, don't you dare forget who runs this camp, and don't you ever threaten me again. Now, down the stairs."

I had trouble arguing with that, but my fear of Chiron resurfaced as I took each stair downward into an unknown darkness.

"Percy!" Silena burst into the mess hall and stalked over to us. I watched her come, she was, as always, very beautiful. I didn't know how else to describe her, well, alright I could but Nico would kill me if he heard me call her prettier than bluebell during the Spring. Her hair was like straight strands made from sunshine, and her eyes were so blue that all other blues seemed dull. But, something was wrong, her eyebrows were knitted together in a way that I had never seen. Silena was a good friend of ours—mine and Nico's. She was a Louisiana girl who had moved up North after she'd come into the Beauregard fortune that her Grandfather had left her upon her twenty-first birthday. The Beauregards were apparently a pretty wealthy family in the Bijou, not that that mattered a lick nowadays. Charlie, her boyfriend, was behind her. Charlie was one of the best guys I knew, he reminded me a lot of Grover and Jason and my old crew. He knew how to get in trouble, which is why I liked him, plus he was built like Thor.

"What's wrong?" I asked standing. "Has there another attack?"

"Percy, man, some deep shit is going on around here." Charlie said. "I think you need to come outside." I didn't exactly understand what he meant by that but Charlie was trustworthy, I told Carter and the others that I'd be back. I left behind them. I noticed the long black scarf wrapped around Silena's neck as it blew in the wind, she was wearing a suit black jacket and black slacks with a white blouse underneath, I didn't normally notice stuff like that but it added to the seriousness of her expression. There was a manila folder in both of her hands.

"What in tarnation is going on?" I asked, not trying to sound like my own Grandfather, Lord knows I loved him but that old son-of-a-bitch was meaner than an ornery rattlesnake being poked by a jackrabbit. I just couldn't help it, I was proud of my Southern heritage (just about everything but the Civil War, really), proud to be from Texas, my team was the Longhorns and my favorite historical site was The Alamo but when I was extremely surprised it seemed to come out of me more than normal.

"Percy, I'm about to tell you a lot of information in a very small amount of time." Silena said, I nodded. "Percy, I'm an agent working for the United States government—my branch has been disbanded since the release of The Mist but I was issued one last mission to complete before that happened." Her blue eyes were navy now, "Chiron Mann is actually named Chiron Kentavros, he also goes by the alias "The Centaur" and Mr. Brunner. I've been trailing him for the past three years," She watched my face, looking for some sort of reaction. I'm not sure what expression I was making but she went on, "The government knew he was going to do this,"

"Do what?" I asked dumbly, I wasn't following where she was going with this.

"To build and release Myostiplednia into the atmosphere but we couldn't prove it. He had a very high place in the scientific community, a position just underneath the Administrator of the EPA," I remembered Chiron saying something about that a long while back but I couldn't remember exactly what he'd said. "The virus is airborne, it doesn't become live until it mixes with the molecules in the air then it spreads out and travels, taking oxygen and making it deadly to breathe, then when it gets inside of you The Mist takes hold. It breaks down the immune system and starts to unravel itself and all the viruses it has already built into it, The Mist is a cocktail of death."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked feeling suddenly troubled, then I remembered. Nico had left with Chiron about ten minutes ago. "Nico!" I yelled. "Oh, fuck! He's with Chiron."

"We know," Charlie said, very suddenly cold steel was pushed into my hand. I looked down to see my gun, the one that had been taken from me upon our arrival. It's familiar weight was almost comforting in my hand.

"Percy, just listen a little longer, okay?" Silena asked, I didn't have much choice. I had no idea where Chiron had taken Nico and I couldn't just run in any direction. I felt myself nod disconnectedly, she had just told me that my world was in the hands of a crazy man.

"Wait," I said. "I—how do I know what you're saying is true?" I asked. I was conflicted, I trued Silena and Charlie but I trusted Chiron too.

"Here," Silena passed the folder into my free hand, the one she had been holding, and I opened it.

"Oh, my God." I flipped through page, after page of Chiron's records, it was a rather long rap sheet of very, very horrible things he had done, the very least of which was murder in the first degree. "Is this real?"

"Percy, I need you to focus." Silena said. "But, yes." There was an official government seal staring up at me from those papers. "Percy, Nico is in trouble." My eyes snapped up to Silena, she was gauging my reactions again.

"What do I do?" I asked staring between her and Charlie.

"You need to keep calm, okay? We're going to try to rescue Nico and then we're going to send you two to live with the Cloven for a little while, I can't have my cover blown, not when we're so close to bringing him down. Charlie will help you but I have to remain blissfully ignorant of this whole thing so I'm going to go back to my cabin and pretend to be sleep until Charlie comes back and gives me the sign that everything is okay."

"Come on, Percy," Charlie Beckendorf, who was I sure I knew so well, and his girlfriend—who I thought I knew better—were stark figures in the moonlight.

"Holy fucking shit." I decided, a simple "shoo far" just didn't feel like it would have had the same effect.


	17. Chapter 17

**NOTE:POSTED WITH PERMISSION**

 **Summary** : In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Seventeen:**

As I descended towards uncertainty my feet became lead, heavy and almost impossible to move. Overhead the bare bulbs would occasionally flicker on for a brief moment, highlighting the incredibly narrow, twisting staircase and the claustrophobically close brick walls that I ran my hand along to keep myself steady. My body felt like it was travelling through a thick sludge with each step, a gelatinous waste that was intent on, if not stopping me completely then to make it difficult to progress. A sheen of sweat had unconsciously built up on my forehead, beads were rolling down my face stinging my eyes but I dared not wipe them away because if I closed my eyes for just a second too long I was going to fall. I was unsteady and my heart felt like it was going to break my ribcage; each breath I took stabbed at my un-working lungs, I was almost too scared to breathe.

A large, warm hand landed on my shoulder and began guiding me faster down the stairs, "You're not getting cold feet now are you, Nico, my boy?" Chiron asked in an all too friendly voice, I swallowed hard; the effort it took was astounding. The warmth from that hand felt poisonous as it spread to the rest of my body, heating me in the most uncomfortable way possible. I wanted to shrug out from underneath it but I knew it wouldn't do any good, I knew I couldn't escape. If I ran forward I was just going to run blindly and come across who knows what, but if I tried to fight my way back up I would have been overpowered immediately. I wasn't weak but I knew that Chiron trained with his legion of guards, he knew their techniques, he knew how to not only defend himself but to do it in an incapacitating manner.

I forced myself forward, moving as fast as my shaking legs would allow. One foot after the other, I watched my steps carefully. My hair clung limply at my face and at the back of my neck and I couldn't help but think that it there was an ungodly heat coming from somewhere.

I thought that perhaps the stairs led directly to Hell.

Finally, after a millennium, my feet hit solid ground. The darkness ended abruptly when Chiron flicked a switch and I clenched my eyes from the sudden flood of light. It took a moment but my vision adjusted accordingly and I tried to get my bearings. We were in what looked like an underground laboratory-slash-hospital. The room itself was gigantic, stretching a good portion underneath the foundation of the recreational center, I'm sure, and it was divided at the middle by a wall of quarantine plastic. I tried to be mindful of shelves upon shelves of books on the walls and the tables full of Bunsen burners, beakers, and test tubes, but I couldn't help but move towards the other side of the room. It didn't help that Chiron was directly behind me still. The light just beyond the plastic was dim but on that side there was a bed, inhabited by someone I couldn't make out, a heart monitor, and an IV drip.

"His name is Maron," Chiron told me, I looked over at him as he spoke. "He was an old associate of mine, as are Leneus and Silenus—who are brothers, actually."

"Why are you doing this?" My voice was small, smaller than I wanted it to sound.

"Why?" Chiron looked away from the patient just beyond the wall of plastic and down to me. "Nico, I saved everyone." I blinked, surprised. He must have seen this because he continued, "Overpopulation would have been a much worse fate for humankind than death by disease, it would have been slow going and would have sparked war, there were already so many billions starving, so many millions without homes, I just sped the process up in the most humanely kind manner there was. We were killing ourselves, Nico, I just did what everyone else was too scared to do. Mist is designed so that only the truly strong survive, those whose immune systems could handle being worn down for so long. You are one of the few chosen to help repopulate and regulate our new society, Nico, with myself at the helm of this new nation."

I felt sick suddenly, my throat went increasingly drier. "You—" Suddenly Chiron was rushing forward, he clamped both of my arms so hard I thought that I could feel the bone touching.

"I see that you don't understand the genius behind my work," He said vehemently. "No one saw, not Leneus, not his brother, and especially not Maron. That's why I've hidden it from everyone but Silena, the girl may be incredibly dim but at least she understands my reasons. She knows, just like you need to, that what I did was for the greater good, and that after I finish rebuilding The Mist in Maron's body it will be what it was truly meant to be when we began creating it all those years ago." He squeezed my arms harder still and I sucked air in through my teeth, refusing to cry out. "Don't you get it, Nico? Don't you understand?"

"No!" I shouted, jarring him enough to make him look at me with wide eyes. "I don't understand at all! You didn't save anyone, you killed billions of people! We could have dealt with the overpopulation issue; we could have dealt with everything!" I felt myself going limp, I had to stand strong. His eyes, which I had always thought looked so calm and intelligent, were black as coal as he stared hard at me. I held his gaze for as long as I could but he was unblinking, unwavering. I had once thought Chiron was a handsome man, but now his face was shadowed and he looked utterly disturbed.

He let me go, "Perhaps," He said dusting his hands off on his jeans, my arms throbbed from where he'd gripped me. "Perhaps you just need a closer look." Before I could ask what he meant he turned quickly and grabbed something from a hook, when he turned back around I was handed what looked like a gas mask. "Put it on." My movements were sluggish, stupidly so, I could only stare at the thing in my hands now. It weighed a million pounds, or maybe I just didn't have the strength to weather this, I wasn't sure which one it was. "Put it on!" Chiron screamed, sounding broken. I did as I was bid and he put his own mask on. Then he grabbed me by the shoulders again and guided me to the middle of the plastic where a zipper ran down it, acting like a zippable door. He undid it and pushed me through following behind.

Once on the other side the gravity of exactly where I was weighed on me heavily, I realized only too late that the man in the sickbed bed had The Mist, I could feel Chiron hovering over me and at that moment I knew I was most likely going to die down here, all alone in this basement with an increasingly more crazy man and a sick man as my only company. Breathing through the mask was weird, but I did simply because I couldn't stop breathing, my breaths were labored but unending.

"Look at him, Nico." Chiron's muffled voice bade; my own voice was lost somewhere, probably back upstairs in my bed with Percy where life had made sense. I wanted to tell him that I wouldn't look, that I couldn't look, that I refused to see anything he wanted to show me but all at once I just felt dead. I was barely standing, just breathing and blinking. He moved me forward until I was at the side of the bed and what I saw was absolutely horrific. I'm not sure you can describe Maron as human, not anymore. The whites of his eyes were jaundiced yellow, nearly golden as he stared up at nothign and it occurred to me vaguely that he was still conscious of everything; the poor bastard. His body was bloated, swelled to capacity with some white liquid that I could see pumping thickly through his very visible veins—every last one of them throbbed with the slow beating of his heart. His paper thin skin was a muted pink color, almost sickeningly reminiscent of a new born. His face was stretched taut, the only part of him not swollen, but it was a strange contrast as just above his neck he was entirely too skeletal but below he was an amorphous blob. His hair was long and white and I saw that were he un-bloated he might have been an elderly looking man, not quite so old as to be geriatric, but also not young. Wrinkles lined his now delicate face; they gave him a solemn appearance, even in such a state. Still, solemnity taken into account he looked beyond pained, he looked like he was in a state of complete agony.

"This," Chiron indicated to the veins in his arms and whatever was pumping through it, "is all pus. You have to drain it or else the body bloats like this and you run a high risk of fevers and infection." Grabbing a few unseen assorted instruments from a medical kit on the floor he pulled on a pair of gloves and then tossed me my own. "Put those on." It didn't take me a second time to do it, I was immediately scrambling to do just that. I looked towards the exit, it was still too far away even with Chiron not directly behind me now. "Hold this and put it just underneath his arm," He said handing me a deep silver tin, I did as I was instructed Chiron lifted Maron's arm over the bowl, he made a small puncture mark and immediately the pus came gushing out, hitting the tin wetly but by the sound of it it had solidified and congealed. I felt my stomach heave as the smell hit the air; the hot, coppery stench of blood mixed with clinging decay and rot. Unconsciously I chanced at glance at the bloodletting but looked away immediately, watching as what almost appeared to be globules of curdled milk drained from someone's veins was not on my list of things to have ever seen, and for good reason. Eventually the running white gave way to thin, anemic red and Chiron bandaged the bedded man's arm. "It'll take some time for the swelling to go down," He said conversationally, as if this were an ever day occurrence. My breath caught and I had to hold down the churning bile of my stomach again.

"You're fucking sick." I growled, feeling increasingly faint. "You have to treat him! I know you can cure this," I motioned to the man laying in his sickbed, teetering on the edge of death but held fast to the world of the living by means of psychotic medical practices.

Chiron grabbed the bowl of infection still sitting on the bed and walked it over to a sink I hadn't seen previously in a dark corner, he flushed it down the drain with water and then scrubbed the tin, after a moment of being away he returned it to the medical kit, along with his scalpel he had used to make the puncture wound. When everything was back in place he sighed heavily. "I was really hoping you'd see things my way, Nico." He sighed. "Maron's body is obviously fighting the disease, he has an abnormally raised white blood cell count and the pus is a good sign, it really is, I'm so close to finishing my life's work I can almost taste it." He took a step towards me. "But," He continued darkly, his eyes glowering and as black as a shadow in the dead of space. "It seem like you'll just have to be the first of many to know firsthand exactly what I mean." Before I could even make a sound his hand shot out, grabbing me by my mask.

"What—!" I tried but he damn near pulled the thing off my face. I held tight to it, but the struggle didn't seem like it would go on for very long. I pushed against him with my free arm but he was stronger than I was, like I knew he would be, and he hardly budged. The mask slipped and for a very brief moment I could taste the stale air of this side of the room; it tasted like antiseptic and disinfectant. Panic flooded my system and something kicked my body into overdrive. My knee lashed out and connected hard with Chiron's groin sending him sailing down to the floor in a matter of milliseconds, causing him to curse so loudly that the sound reverberated off the walls. I made a mad dash for the zipper door, and ripped the thing open, but it was too late as fingers tangled in the back of my hair, yanking hard.

I wasn't prepared for death, not like I used to be. I found myself more scared now than I had ever been in my life. I had something to live for now and I didn't want to leave it all behind. Knowing you're going to die and then actually being confronted with that very fact are two different things. I felt a horrible shriek break out of my mouth; it embodied every aspect of my fear, of my anger. It was the scream of an animal in danger, lowing and helpless. I shook, terrified, and his fingers twisted harder against my skull; fingernails raked over my scalp unmindful of pain or blood. My body sagged as I struggled to breathe but Chiron wouldn't let me fall to my knees as tears burst from my eyes and another cry bubbled out of me a-melodically. " _Percy_ …" I cried futilely, beseeching any god who would listen that he not suffer the same fate I knew I was about to go through. That he realized before it was too late that this place was dangerous and that he get out of here as fast as he could.

Chiron's fingers fumbled at the strings of my doctoral face mask. He sounded mad, insane, as he said, "The disease is airborne, you see, I can't recall if I've explained that to you but—" His words were suddenly cut off though.

"Chiron!" That voice, my eyes snapped open and I stared hard through tear soaked vision. I would have known that voice had I been knocked dumb and unconscious. My heart leapt out in elation as two figures came down the stairs hurriedly, Charles Beckendorf and—yes!—Percy! "Let him go." They had guns trained on us. Chiron walked us the rest of the way through the zip-door and closed it languidly.

He turned a friendly air on, "Percy, how good to see—"

"I said let him fucking go, now!" Percy roared, cocking his gun menacingly. I felt those strong fingers release my hair and I ran forward into his awaiting arms.

"I'm surprised at you three." Chiron's voice sounded truly disappointed as he removed his own mask, I had ripped my own off the moment Percy pushed me behind him and retrained his gun on the towering doctor. "I've provided you with a home, with family and sanctity and this is how you repay me? Especially you, Charlie, how would Silena feel if she knew you were down here?"

Charlie growled. "I told her I was leaving, so I don't give a damn, tell her whatever the hell you want."

"Leaving?" Chiron asked.

"You think Percy and Nico are the only ones who know how to sneak around? I can't believe you two; I couldn't stand the thought of her helping you down here. When I saw you bringing Nico here I had to tell Percy, I knew I couldn't let you have another conspirator."

Chiron looked both marginally surprised and impressed by that, "Just where will you go, Charles? Perseus? There is nowhere else, nowhere." He inched forward. "Let's face the facts: I'm all any of you have. Besides, you boys know me, and you know I love you as if you were my own sons. You know I have your best interests at heart. Put the guns down." His voice was soothing, probably from years of lying. "We can sort this whole thing out, you can get back together with Silena, Charlie—she's such a good girl—and we can all keep this our little secret."

"I don't think so." Charlie's voice was a low, menacing whisper. Before I knew what was going on he shot his gun once and that was more than enough to make Chiron fall over in surprise, though the slug missed him and embedded itself in the wall somewhere. "Come on!" He shouted. We ran, following him back up the stairs, Percy pushing me ahead of him. When we reached the top step we took off out the door and onto the campgrounds.

It wasn't thirty seconds after we were out of the building that a loud voice came over the PA system, speaking quickly and clearly and echoing all around the camp. " _Attention campers_ ," Chiron sounded, " _Attention campers_ ," He said again. " _We have three rogues on the run_ , _be on the lookout for Charles Beckendorf_ , _Nico di Angelo_ , _and Percy Jackson_. _They are no longer welcome here at Camp Halfblood_ , _consider them worse than Cloven_. _Party Ponies are to shoot on sight_."

"That's the signal!" Charlie hoarsely laughed to himself as we were still running, it was a laugh built from a forlorn place and it sounded hollow in my ears. We made our way to the woods. Passing by all the familiar cabins, by the places that, for the past few months had been a warm home, and not once did we stop. Doors were flying open, lights were coming on, and people were beginning to flood out of their respective houses as Chiron repeated his warning. I caught the eye of a few of them but they weren't yet fully rallied, nor did they know yet how to react to their leader's words. But it would only take a moment, one infinitesimal second, for them to get the message in its entirety. We ran until the woods were no longer familiar, we passed the horse stables, passed the pig pens and chicken coops and we ran still. We ran, it felt like, until we were clear on the other side of the state. Finally Charlie took a right and we broke through the woods, coming out onto an almost deserted street; almost because there was a four door truck sitting there, engine running and headlights on. I was breathing heavily, my mind hazy and speech was slow to come. When I opened my mouth to ask a question a muffled bark caught my attention, turning I saw the lean figure of Mrs. O'Leary jump out of the woods from the same way we had come, her fur was so dark it looked as if she had leapt from the shadows. Between her teeth was a slightly perturbed Tyson, though he looked like he was used to travelling this way by now.

Even with everything that had just happened I felt myself smile fondly for a moment as she loped forward and I kneeled down to hug my dog; it was a small comfort but I nearly began to cry into her dirty fur so nice did it feel to have escaped with my life. I took Tyson out of her mouth and cradled him in my arms just hugging them both to me for a moment. Percy grasped me by my shoulders and pulled my face into the wide breadth of his chest and I couldn't hold my tears back any longer.

"How did you two orchestrate this whole thing?" Percy asked over the muffled sound of my crying, I looked up and found that he was talking to Charlie. Two? I wondered what he meant by that.

"We've been trying to find a way to rattle Chiron for a while," Charlie replied. "But, we couldn't have done anything without Leneus' help; he was the one who dropped this truck off for us. It was just supposed to be me and Silena heading out of here today but she thinks she can string Chiron along just a little bit longer. I hate leaving her behind like this…"

"Wait," I said wiping my nose and my eyes furiously with the sleeve of my shirt. When the tears were gone my face felt cold from where they had almost frozen over. "What's going on? What are you talking about?" Quickly, but in detail, Charlie explained that before he and Silena met he had originally been with what the people of Halfblood called "the Cloven" and that after some months his girlfriend, though at the time she had not been, came through their midst looking for Chiron. They directed her towards the camp, but Charlie had followed her, claiming that he wanted to help her take him down. Luckily the whole of the Cloven camp hadn't been able to infiltrate Halfblood or Chiron might have known who he was. He went on to tell me about her mission, and then he told me something I was even more surprised to hear.

"Leneus can tell you the whole story," He said. "The real story about the Mist and probably anything else you want to know; Chiron's a genius, don't get me wrong, but he's insane." He looked between us and sighed, "Get in the truck, I told Silena she had two more days and then I'd be back for her, I don't even want to give her those but she begged for them." Sighing again his breath was visible in the cold air. I handed Percy Tyson numbly and then Mrs. O'Leary and I climbed into the backseat, thankful for the spacious cab. When everyone was settled into the truck he took off down the road.

After a few minutes of us driving, me in stunned silence, Percy's eyes darting back to me every now and then to see if I was still in one piece, and Charlie only slightly irritated at what I'm guessing was the whole situation, Percy finally said, "So is anything you guys told me true? You know, are you really from Oklahoma? Did your dad really play for the Minor League?"

That seemed to break Charlie out of his mood, most likely brooding over his girlfriend, "Everything we told you is true, Percy. The easiest way to go undercover is to play your real motives as close to the surface as you can—that's what Silena says, we didn't make up fake pasts, or even fake names." Percy seemed to like that, he smiled gratefully happy that they were still the same people he had come to know and love.

Again we lapsed into silence, the heater of the truck sputtered loudly, pumping out blessed warmth as we left the suddenly very dangerous camp miles behind. My thoughts turned inward, we weren't just leaving the camp behind we were leaving unsuspecting, innocent people too: Carter, Sadie, Walt, Piper, Drew—everyone at camp. Silena had been right when she said they revered Chiron, they had an undying loyalty for him and they had no idea who he really was. Hell, I still had no idea who he was; I was waiting to talk to some new man who I had been warned against since my second week at camp.

Mrs. O'Leary settled heavily against my side, and as my thoughts went deeper it was suddenly more difficult to stay awake. The adrenaline of having been attacked had worn off after I'd used it all during our escape. Now all I felt was a great tiredness, even as those grim thoughts settled on my mind. I leaned into the comfort of my oversized dog and decided that I would only close my eyes for a minute, just long enough to get my breathing under control.

 _Breathe in through the mouth_ , _exhale through the nose_ , I thought to myself, _in through the mouth_ , _out through the nose_ , _in_ , _out_ , _in_ , _out_ , _in_ … _out_ …

When I woke up I knew where we were immediately. Even had I never been in New York before I would have known the Empire State building thanks to all the movies that are always portraying it. Against the snow-gray sky it loomed upward as if it went on forever, I realized Charlie and Percy were talking quietly in the front seat and that the truck was off, the cold was slowly seeping back into the cab.

"—been living here ever since," I caught the end of Charlie's sentence.

"Why do they attack Halfblood?" Percy asked. "Seems a little out of the way if they're settled in here."

"It's not that, most of the attacks are engineered by a division of young men and women who are still upset at Chiron for what he did."

"What did he do?"

"Aside from turning the whole of the Party Ponies on us when we first tried to enter the camp?" Charlie answered. "He killed the envoy who was talking to both groups of people, trying to get us to work together," Charlie paused. "He killed his son, Evian." The heat was suddenly sucked out of the car completely.

It took a moment but I finally managed a, "But…but Chiron said the Cloven killed him…" These lies were starting to get ridiculous. I didn't know who to believe anymore. "He was almost crying when he said it," I told them. "You can't fake that kind of sadness."

"Nico, Chiron is a liar, a very good liar. Scary good, if I hadn't seen him kill that kid himself I might buy that little sob story he made up. He's sick," Charlie popped his door open. "Also, the doorman's suffering from a little dementia, he's perfectly harmless but…well, you'll just have to see" He added before stepping out of the car. I followed behind, curious.

"What do you mean by that?" I called after him.

"Charlie? Is that you?" A semi musical voice drifted over to us just as the sky opened up and a very small amount of snow began to fall to the earth. The wind was chapping cold and I felt my lips go suddenly dry. "I thought you'd gone, and yet here you are out of the blue."

"Janus, hey man it's good to see you again." Charlie smiled. The man standing at the golden double doors looking outside of the Empire State building was older, in his late fifties or his early sixties, but his hair was nearly jet black, nearly because it was streaked with a heavy steel-gray on the sides. His eyes were also two colors; one was chartreuse and the other a caramel brown. His face was lined with wrinkles, though whether they were from smiles or frowns it was indeterminable, he was doing neither at the moment, just staring at us with a look of surprise. "This is Percy," Charlie motioned to Percy, "and this is Nico." He said pointing to me; I waved awkwardly which was met by that same questioning stare.

"You brought them from Halfblood? A strange thing, that reputation is smeared with mud." The man named Janus said, his dual-colored irises growing a shade darker. He walked with a cane, I noticed as he moved with a slight limp, his right leg just a bit stiff.

"They're cool." Charlie answered quickly. "I swear." Janus looked at us, and then he smiled wily. He stood straighter, he was about the same height as Carter if I could really recall properly. He was wearing an old suit which was a tan dingy colored khaki and a pair of scuffed black loafers but his salt-and-pepper hair was combed rather neatly.

"Janus…" Charlie said in a warning voice, one that made me grow apprehensive.

"What gets wetter and wetter the more and it dries?" Janus asked suddenly, a mischievous light in his eyes.

I wasn't exactly sure what that meant so I said, "What?"

"Janus has this thing—" Charlie tried to explain.

"A towel," Percy said, cutting him off. I blinked.

"What?" I asked again, still not following.

"Correct," Janus said tapping his cane twice against the concrete sidewalk. "Next one, what can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?"

"That one's easy," Percy smiled. "A river."

"Correct, next: I'm the part of the bird that's not the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry, what am I?"

"Is he not going to let us in unless we answer of his questions?" I asked Charlie, who nodded.

"Like I said, he's a bit eccentric, he keeps this place locked up tight, or at least he's supposed to. He lets the kids out if they answer his riddles." The big man shook his head. "He thinks anyone who can answer is worth his time." Then Charlie cleared his throat and spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "That's the last one, Jan, alright, we need to talk to Leneus."

"Yes, yes, alright then, just testing their morals. You were always such a spoilsport, Charles. You never did try to answer my questions, though we both know you're the best at them."

"Because they're asinine," Charlie laughed.

"A shadow."

"What?" I looked at Percy who had obviously been thinking while that exchange had transpired.

"A shadow," Percy said again. "That's the answer isn't it? I used to have a book full of puzzles, it was the only book I actually _liked_ reading." Then Janus was actually smiling happily, he stepped aside.

"You're good people, endowed by the gods from the top of the steeple. A riddle show much about one's character, the fact that you can answer them let's me know you've got intelligence to spare on us." He said in his strange verse of speaking. We began to move forward but his hand came up to stop me, "Uhp, not you, young man. You've got a riddle to answer, all newcomers must answer a riddle, you see, for the reason I listed now I shall ask three."

"Janus, come on!" Charlie sounded exasperated. "Just one."

"Just one then, Charles, if you insist but he must answer, mister…Nico was it?" I nodded, unsure exactly where this was going and wondering if I had the strength to weather through it. "Answer this and I'll move aside, fail to do so and more time you'll bide," I sighed heavily and nodded again, "I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket and I'll make it lighter. What am I?"

"Uh…" I looked at Percy, then at Charlie, then back at Janus, completely clueless.

"Oh—!" Percy said a split second later, of course he knew the answer.

"Ah, ah, ah, he must answer it himself, Mr. Percy. I'm a good doorman, I show no mercy."

I thought about that and realized Charlie was right, this was asinine. I sighed, my mind blank and tired. "I don't know." I replied. Janus smiled wider—damn it, I was rhyming now.

"Care to hazard a guess? There's only one way to answer, yes, yes; yes, yes."

"Look, we've been through a lot today—"

"I'll take that as a nope," The doorman laughed, he looked at Charlie. "But, oh my, don't yet lose hope. I suppose I can let you save him this one time, call it parley. _You_ know the answer don't you, Charlie?"

Without missing a beat Charlie said, "A hole. It's a hole. Now, seriously Jan, we have to talk to Leneus. Let us through, please?" The skunk-headed man took a step to the side and let us pass without so much as a chittering laugh—I clenched my eyes shut, that damn speech pattern was easy to get into. He reached out long fingers, his entire body was stringy I realized, and grabbed me by the shoulder.

"Bone up on your riddles they get harder each time, don't make light of my speech though it is in rhyme. You'll come to love our little game, young man; assure you of this I most definitely can." His grin was wide and playful and were I in a better mood I might have been more inclined to find him funny, he didn't seem like such a bad guy. But, I simply gave him a ghostly smile and nodded, waving him away. Charlie walked quickly and with purpose, his stride long and exaggerated. I didn't have the energy, all this hopping between places, and being lied to, and then being forced into a game of answer that riddle—just living in general had left me completely depleted.

"You look dead on your feet, Nicky," Percy said as if he could read my mind, then he smiled. "Riddles are hard, huh?"

"Shut up, Percy." I growled at him which made him laugh.

"Get on my back." He said still chuckling, then he handed Tyson to Mrs. O'Leary who gladly took the cat by the scruff of his neck. Tyson, with the patience of a saint, only glared his hatred at this obviously disliked form of travel, he didn't even mewl—which could only mean he was beyond pissed. Then Percy kneeled down to let me climb up. I thought about saying no but when I saw that Charlie wasn't going to give us any grief, or comment at all really, I nodded and shambled on top of him, gripping my arms around his neck and dangling my feet by his waist, using my thighs to hold onto his sides. He hooked his arms underneath my legs and I leaned my head against the back of his neck. "Where are we going, Charlie?" Percy asked.

"To the top," Charlie replied in a faraway voice, the sound of an elevator ding had me looking over Percy's shoulder, glancing at Janus who was now sitting behind the greeting desk of the lobby and reading a thick book. He looked up and winked was back to his reading within a flash.

"Look, man, Silena's going to be okay." Percy said sounding sympathetic, he touched Charlie's arm reassuringly.

"I know she can handle herself…I just…" Charlie breathed deeply. "You remember that day you broke Zoe's shooting record, and after a while we got to talking about just life and shit, man?" Charlie looked almost broken, his eyebrows were drawn together and his normally exuberant brown eyes were shaded by concern. "You said if anything were to ever happen to Nico you'd never forgive yourself, remember?" I felt Percy's shoulder stiffen a little bit and that definitely drew my attention back to them.

" _You said that_?" I asked quietly in his ears, my voice a laughing whisper. Percy nodded stiffly, answering us both. I knew he was a bit embarrassed; he didn't share intimate things to my knowledge so openly with anyone besides me. That meant he must have really trusted Charlie.

"That's how I feel about Silena, Perce. I love her, so much, you know that, man." His voice cracked, its normal bass tone filled with woe. "She's so deep undercover right now it's dangerous for her to even breathe wrong. After our little stunt I don't know how any what's left of Chiron's sanity will stay together."

"Just give her these two days, Charlie. That's all she needs." I tightened my hold on Percy's neck, suddenly I felt forlorn again too. What if something did happen to Silena, to anyone at Halfblood? I felt a chill run down my spine at the thoughts I'd refused to have on the ride to this place, they took full hold of me now though.

"We have to get them all out of there," I said over Percy's shoulder. "All the campers, it's not just Silena who's in danger—it's everyone."

"We've been trying, Nico. The damn Party Ponies are too good; those kids who attack Halfblood from here every now and then don't have any sort of real training, maybe one or two of them, but not enough to make any difference. I've written out coups but the camp is too big and too well guarded. We have more numbers than Chiron does but like I said not enough know-how." He stepped into the elevator holding it open for us, Percy followed in behind him. "But, now that we're back here maybe Leneus has a plan."

"You guys stock a lot of faith in this Leneus guy, almost like the Halfblooders with Chiron." Percy pointed out. Charlie looked over his shoulder, his eyes smoldering still with the regret of having left his girlfriend behind.

"It's all we can do, Percy. He doesn't run this place like Chiron. He's an actual leader, not just some figurehead who leaves everyone else to do his work. He actually wants society to strive." Percy laughed dryly.

"You'll forgive me if I don't trust any 'leaders' right now, or ever again."

"Leneus'll understand." Charlie replied. "You don't have to trust him, or anyone, we won't try to persuade you to life here. In the morning, after you've eaten, I'll help you guys find a car and a way out of here. If that's what you want I'd totally understand."

"No." I said. "We're staying."

"Nico?" Percy looked over his shoulder at me.

"Percy, we can't run from Chiron. So what if he's got his little Party Ponies." I motioned for him to put me down and he did. Only belatedly did I see that Charlie had hit a button whose numbers had been marked out and redrawn in crudely as '600'. "He has our friends, Percy. I've never had friends before and it's not like I'll have the chance to make new ones, I like our friends. I like just about everyone at that camp—even Drew. We can't let him win. I can't keep running from my problems." I was stumbling I realized suddenly as the thought tumbled through my head.

"What are you talking about Nico," Percy asked. "What problems have you been running from?"

That was just it, I felt it. I felt what was different about me, what was new. Sure, I had my friends, and yes I had Percy—which helped a great deal—but I had been voicing my opinion. I had been sticking up for myself in a very real way. I had been living, and unlike before it wasn't from the inside of a shell. It had been dawning on me since our departure from Idaho that I had slowly but surely begun metamorphosing, that I had been breaking through the fragile exoskeleton of the Nico that was and that I was now just Nico. I had thought about it but I had never really fully realized the concreteness of the change, and it only took one brush with death for me to see it. Standing there in that elevator headed up to the sixth hundredth floor I realized that I couldn't—no, that I wouldn't let him win. Chiron who had duped us all with his fake love, his fake kindness, with his synthetic words and his disarming smiles; he had almost had me fooled, he had almost made me feel sorry for him. I realized also that not only was it the fact that I was being my own person that made me feel different, but yes because I had people to live for, and that I was angry because Chiron was threatening that.

"We have to fight him with everything, Percy. If we don't then my parents death, your parents death, Grover, Annabeth, all of your friends will have died for nothing. He killed them, and now he's doing it again." Percy tensed.

"It's too dangerous, Nico." He told me. "I've been on his side, I know—"

"That's right, you know!" I said, an idea bubbling forward in my head like the Big Bang. "You can teach them! You can drill anyone who wants to learn what the Party Ponies taught both of you, how they honed your skills! I can learn too."

"NO!" I cringed back, Percy immediately looked apologetic but the roar of his voice was echoing inside of my head and he offered no apology, his eyes were fierce with determination. "No, Nico. I'm never going to teach you how to fight, I don't want you doing it. If I even considered what you're talking about you'd have to promise me that you would stay here, that is first and foremost. I don't ever want you near Chiron ever again. Not within a hundred meters, not within a hundred fucking miles, do you understand?"

"Percy—"

"Nico, I'll give you anything you want. Please, please, just this one time and you never have to agree to anything I say ever again. Just promise me that you'll stay away from him? I'll show whoever wants to learn all the tactics I learned of theirs, I'll do whatever just promise me that you'll stay here?"

"I can't let you do this on your own, it's my idea." I replied in a small voice. "You can't go off by yourself, I fucking hate when you get all gung-ho about saving the day but don't think about your own safety. If I'm not there who's going to watch out for you?"

"You act like he'd be going alone," Charlie laughed. "You better believe I want a piece of this action, it's been killing me to have to listen to that smug bastard all this time, he thinks he's untouchable now."

"Nico, do you promise?" Percy asked, turning his serious eyes on me.

The elevator dinged again, I knew we weren't six hundred floors up because the Empire State building doesn't have six hundred floors but I could imagine it, it had taken long enough to get here. I swallowed hard, "Yeah, sure, I guess. But, Percy you have to be careful."

"We can't do anything without Leneus' permission," Charlie said stepping out onto the floor, us following behind him. "But, welcome to the home of the Cloven, there's Leneus now." He motioned forward; the top floor had been hollowed out into a sort of alcove, there were mounted televisions that showed a camera feed of the front lobby that Janus had met us at and of the other entrances and exits for every floor, there was a lone desk and a long reclining couch watching them, but other than that and a cold marble floor it was relatively empty.

A man sat behind the desk, immensely old. He was still, the only sign of life was that his eyes were roaming over a piece of paper and one of his fingers was tapping against the desk. His face was long and gaunt, filled to the brim with liver spots and wrinkles, and his hair was not silver but completely white, cut close to his ears. He must have been upwards of eighty years old, but at the sight of us he stood from his chair without a hint of struggle. He, too, wore a suit but it was black and looked almost freshly tailored. He walked towards us, slowly. His bushy brows drew together and then his surprisingly bright and lucid green eyes sparkled with recognition. "Charles, is that you?" His voice was deep, sleepy, and comforting, and he had a familiar scholarly tone. He stopped in front of us, his black shoes wing-tipped and he clicked his heels together. "But it is." Then he squinted his eyes and stared at me and Percy. "These two, however, I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting." Then the man named Leneus extended his hand out, the back of which was skeletal and drawn with age. "I am Leneus Wild," He offered a smile which lit up his face in a grandfatherly light and I shook the extended hand

"Nico di Angelo," I said, he nodded.

"Percy Jackson," Percy said shaking the man's hand.

"It is lovely to meet you both," Leneus placed both arms behind his back and stood straight. "I'm sure you two have a story, everyone does, but it is late, there is more than enough room here, please, retire and we shall commune later, I was about to take my own leave." Something felt oddly familiar about all of this. "Come this way, gentlemen, Charlie will show you to a spare room. Where is the lovely young woman you followed after, Charles?"

"She'll be here soon," Charlie replied staunchly.

"Ah, I look forward to seeing her again." Leneus replied. "She was a delight."

"Mr. Wild," Percy said, eyes flicking over to me almost asking if I was sure I knew what I was doing.

"Just Leneus, please, I may be old but I'm young enough at heart,"

"Leneus, then, we're from Halfblood," Leneus' steps faltered for a moment but then he continued on.

"Hm. Well, then it would seem we have much to speak on. But, it is nothing that can't wait for a bit of rest. Like I said I'm old, I get tired rather easily and it's been a busy day."

I laughed, "You don't know the half of it." He gave me a quizzical look but then smiled, making it incredibly hard not to find him likeable.

"I'll take your word for it, young man." He touched my shoulder. "I see quite a bit of pain in your eyes," He said, his eyes scrutinizing me, looked closer, "and a bit of fever as well, are you feeling alright?"

"Fine," I said pulling back a bit, his expression softened.

"I see, Charlie, please show them off to their rooms, I was not expecting visitors or I might have been up to the task. I will meet with you boys soon, if you so choose, you may find my brother before you find me, he is mucking about here somewhere."

"Get some rest, Leneus," Charlie said as we walked to the elevator, the oldest of us took it and was gone within the next few moments.

"That felt just like it did when we met Chiron," I said once he was gone.

"A little," Percy agreed. "It's always a bit weird."

"I guess I'm showing you guys to some spare rooms," Charlie said. "We'll take the stairs, there are some open quarters just a few floors below us." Percy grabbed my hand as we followed Charlie.

"Don't worry," He smiled. "We'll get it right this time."

"I can only hope," I replied.


	18. Chapter 18

**Note: Posted With Permission**

 **Summary:** In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Eighteen:** Stronghold

I woke up. Strangely enough I didn't remember falling asleep and my body felt heavy. I could hardly form coherent thoughts, which was why I wondered how I had gotten to bed in the first place. Hell, there were a lot of things I was wondering at that particular moment in time, but I was so tired I couldn't care.

The Empire State Building's floors were made up of a series of suites, a good portion of which had been apparently converted to bedrooms. The room I was in had New York spanning outward from the window like a well laid industrial front lawn, buildings and skyscrapers and streets networked this way and that in an almost indecipherable pattern. It was chaos and yet at one time it had been the easiest thing in the world to navigate. Even still the wash of gray buildings and the bright, glaring sun was too much for my eyes. I threw the blankets back and pulled the curtains tight.

My head throbbed, and my nose was congested and somewhere in my throat I could feel a deep, rumbling cough about to overtake me. The thought of getting back in bed became too overwhelming. Quickly I crawled back under the blankets, sniffling slightly, and only when I was safely situated did I notice Percy's absence.

A logical part of my brain told me that we were safe territory, that Charlie was one of these, that wherever he was Percy was a man that could take care of himself; but, after what we'd been through I couldn't trust even that. Everything in me pled to stay in the comfortable confines of my now cocooned blankets and covers but I got up again, "Percy?" I called; my voice was a lot weaker than I thought it would have been. I cleared my throat, but it scratched and grated and pained me greatly to do so. "Percy?" I called again, this time my voice was just a squeak.

"Nico, you're awake?" Percy stood suddenly at the door that I guess adjoined to a bathroom, he had a towel wrapped around his waist and beads of water rolling down his broad shoulders. "Baby, you sound horrible."

"Yeah, I noticed," I squeaked at him in return.

"You look sick." I felt sick. "I knew I should have bundled you up more to play in the snow, you California boys never get any real Winters, you just ain't used to the cold." His voice was light-hearted, but his face was so riddled with concern that I almost felt guilty of something. "You should lay down," I rolled my eyes and his expression softened even more, he came closer. "You collapsed last night before we could meet Silenus." I scooted away from him as he grabbed me by the shoulder and sat me back on the bed.

"No," I said holding my arms up. "You stay back; I don't want you to catch whatever I have."

"I've had colds before, Nico." He smiled. I couldn't help but wonder why his eyes were so watery, almost like there were tears in his eyes.

"Yeah, well I don't give them." I replied. "Stay away."

"I heard the best way to get rid of a cold is to give it to someone else," It was at that time that I kicked him off, again, feeling quite fond of the memory of our first meeting. My foot connected with his shoulder and he fell on his butt at the end of the bed. He was more surprised than hurt, not that I'd kicked him hard, and he shook his head. "Shoot-far, Nico. Why do you always kick me?" He grouched and I felt myself smile a little bit, maybe the situation wasn't as bad as I thought; and I'd forgotten how much of a hick he could be, it was cute. He was obviously worried about something because his accent was only ever so thick when his emotions were high. "'Least let me feel your forehead." He got on the bed again and placed the back of his hand against my forehead. He pulled back immediately. "Jesus. You're burning up."

"Am I?" I wondered, I didn't feel hot, if anything I was starting to feel cold and sleepy again. A shiver ran down my spine, which caused my whole body to shake all at once. Percy's look of concern cemented itself between his brow and at the down-turned sides of his mouth, his lips thinned in disapproval.

"Lay back down, okay? I'm gonna go get Charlie." I did as I was bid, finding that I didn't want to argue. My head hit the pillow heavily and in only moments the world around me became blissfully bleary. My vision blurred and everything around me turned to soft outlines; vaguely could I hear Percy muttering something, something about Charlie being right, something about not wanting to lose me; even if his words were distant and almost echoing to the point of being indecipherable I could feel his hand on my leg.

It was nice.

In a matter of moments I was drifting back to a warm, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up again I could hear the added low murmurings of several more people in the room that we had apparently commandeered after I had apparently passed out, something I still didn't remember doing. The last thing I could clearly remember was the ding of the elevator, and I had taken a step, and then it went dark.

"What's wrong with him?" Percy asked, his voice was the lowest and most strained out of the bunch. "It's just a fever right?"

"Percy, man, you know what it is," Charles' voice said, laced with weighty sympathy. Before Percy could speak someone else broke in.

"Well, he does very obviously have a fever, yes. But, I'm afraid it _is_ a symptom of a much deeper problem, the very one you're dreading, Percy." The voice was stored somewhere in the short term part of my memory and I immediately recognized it as Leneus'. "It's as I feared when I first laid my eyes on him, I've seen this too many times to be wrong. His slight eye discoloration, the rapid fever, his collapsing, coupled with the fact that he was alone with Chiron for an undetermined amount of time, most likely and in all probability he's been exposed to the latest strand of Mist." I heard the words, but I couldn't feel the alarm in them like I knew I should have.

Was he saying that in that brief moment of exposure I had caught Chiron's manufactured disease? But, I only felt warm, and tired. My arms and chest and head and legs were all immovable, my body had become rooted as if I were a building and the bed my foundation. I was aware but I couldn't make myself known, I couldn't find my voice, and again I knew I should have been alarmed. Somewhere, deep, deep, in my brain there was panic, but I was immensely fatigued for some reason, after I rested for a little while longer I'm sure that I would have felt much more normal about such a dire situation.

"No..." Percy sounded so small. I might have smiled because I never had anyone to care so much about me before, but even the seventeen muscles it takes to smile were much too heavy for me try and maneuver. I wanted to sit up again, tell them all I was fine, but I really just didn't have the energy.

"Not to worry, my boy," Leneus replied calmly. "I know Chiron, he was my student, we worked together for quite sometime."

"But Chiron said you—" Percy said but stopped himself. "No, Chiron's a liar. I forgot, I can't believe anything he said."

"Too right, he's rather...imaginative. He's proficient with words and very emotive, that one. Chiron could make you believe anything. He can make it hard for you to believe anything, as well. I can understand that you won't trust us for a while, but I can promise you that Nico's case isn't as severe as you think. The last thing that Chiron and I worked on together was engineering nonlethal strands of the disease, we were so close to a vaccine. Since he's shown none of the other symptoms and is still alive and well I can only guess that Chiron completed our last work."

"Len, you were taking a gigantic risk allowing these young men into this building, let alone bringing us all in here if you knew he had the disease." A similar voice replied.

"I know, brother. But, there was no time to find the appropriate gear necessary. I can treat this and you know it," Leneus was talking to the man that must have been his brother, I guessed, not that I could open my eyes wide enough to see. However, if I could have I would've seen that looked similar enough: snow-white hair faces wrinkled and haggard by age. But, where Leneus' eyes crinkled into friendly smile lines Sileneus' were taut as if he barely ever grinned, let alone out of happiness or joy. He crossed his arms across his chest and drew himself to his full height.

"For your sake and all of ours I hope so, brother, you've led us astray too many times to make another mistake." His blue eyes were hard and filled with something akin to resentment. They softened a tad when he looked at Nico, "If you can't cure him he'll be another one to add to the body count. Can your conscience really handle another?" The air grew colder after that, the atmosphere of the room was suddenly more sour than before as past mistakes and ghosts imposed themselves silently, even I could feel the air shift.

"Leave it be, Sil." Charlie whispered, but everyone in the room could hear. I felt my head loll and Percy turned his attention back to me, I could just barely make out his face. God, every time I looked at him I couldn't help but think how beautiful he was. I wanted so badly to squeeze his hand but my fever was making me slowly drift back out of consciousness. He took his hand as if he could read my mind, his palm and fingers were clammy with sweat and his skin was lukewarm and if he was sweating I knew he must have really been worrying.

"You can save him, can't you?" He asked, his expression was somewhere near broken and desperate. His brows were drawn together and trembling and his eyes were wet with tears. "I can't lose him."

You're not going to lose me, stupid. I wanted to say, but my tongue was thick and my mouth was dry as cotton. After a moment of trying to locate myself in the drowning pool otherwise known as my body I managed a grunt, it wasn't very loud but my boyfriend's attention swiveled over to me. Percy's eyes found mine, for a moment we were locked together in silent understanding. I wouldn't leave him alone, I would never leave him, no matter what, I _couldn't_ didn't he understand that? But my expression must have conveyed some of the things that I was desperately thinking because such relief filled Percy that his shoulders shook from a violent sob.

"You say that it's no longer contagious?" Sileneus asked. "How can you be sure?"

"I told you, Chiron and I were working tirelessly on this disease. It has stages, evolutions. Given enough time and the right host—"

"Maron, you mean."

"Yes, it is regrettable that Maron has been captured," Leneus' words stumbled as grief nearly overcame him at yet another mistake. "He was like a son to me, you all know that. But we don't have the power to march on Chiron and his camp, he's brainwashed those people into believing we're the enemy and the stunts that your peers pull don't leave us in any better light, Mr. Beckendorf."

"Hey, I don't tell the guys to attack the camp." Charlie defended.

"Be that as it may it has left us all at an odds with one another." Then finally he sighed. "Leave me with the boy, I'll need a sample of his blood and a few hours alone to come up with the proper antidote but after this stage the Mist was really supposed to start helping people. If I would have known that my star pupil would have used his intelligence for such evil purposes..." Again he paused and shook his head. "Just give me a few hours please? Charles, if you would be so kind carry the young man to my office."

"No." Percy's voice was made from steel and filled with conviction.

"Excuse me?" Leneus asked, taken back I'm assuming.

"What I mean," Percy amended, "is that I'll carry him. I want to be there the whole time."

There was a silence, "Mr. Jackson, while I understand you sentiment I'm not sure if it would be advisable, there won't be too much activity to entertain you and while waiting on the health of a loved one emotions and nerves tend to get a bit…short. I need time to fix this and I don't believe you would have the patience that my work requires. You would be forced to stay seated for hours on end." Two strong, familiar arms wrapped around my body. Arms that had protect me, that had held me when I cried, when I was alone, arms that would have probably tried to capture the sun if I asked for it, and Percy spoke again.

"I want to be there." He repeated. "The whole time."

Leneus sighed, "As you wish, bring him quickly we haven't many moments to spare if I'm to gauge his condition." That was the last I remembered because for a third time that morning I feel prey to the lull of unconsciousness.

I opened my eyes to a stifling darkness, it was cut only by a stark strand of moonlight that glowed a sort of otherworldly silver. I couldn't much make out the room I was in aside from the fact that I was lying on top of a rather comfortable couch. There was a blanket around me, tucked all around almost meticulously, and a pillow underneath my head. I blinked into the darkness letting my eyes slowly adjust and I was almost startled by the slow, heavy breathing of a sleeping Percy in the chair to my left.

He sat at my feet, his chair facing me, and he looked extremely uncomfortable but he was almost dead asleep. There was a line of drool dribbling out of the corner of his closed mouth, which was down turned still in a frown, and he sat like a man crumpled under some immense weight with his hands in his lap and his shoulders slumped forward and his head falling to one side in a position that looked absolutely aching and painful.

I flexed my fingers, glad to have woken but even more glad to have the strength to control my body again. I felt lightheaded and my stomach was both empty and nauseous, a strange combination that left me queasy. After I unwrapped myself from the cocoon of blankets around me I sat up. I could still feel that my fever had not broken, there was a cold sweat running down my back and I was barely suppressing a shiver as my shoulders began to shake from some unfelt chill. "Percy," I said, my voice was still weak but I would have preferred if he was laying with me than on that chair. "Wake up, come lay down with me." He didn't stir, which was strange considering he was normally such a light sleeper. He must have been extremely tired, it would be just like him to stay up entire night watching over me. I scooted closer to him and touched his knee. "Percy." I said louder, still the only movement from him was the rise and fall of his chest and his barely audible snores. "Per—"

"Oh, you're awake." The door opened and a figured stepped through, the voice was sweet and endearing and immediately I could tell she was female simply from the timbre, her silhouette in the darkness against the light of whatever lay beyond the door she had immerged from furthered my analysis. She was short, shorter than me, and I could still not make out her features other than her long, straight hair. "Len said I should check on you two, were you just trying to talk to your boyfriend?" She stepped further into the room. "Hold on, I'm going to turn the light on, okay?" At the next moment a light switch must have been flicked because the room was flooded with fluorescence.

I blinked my eyes against the bursting of brilliance, it took a moment but my eyesight adjusted accordingly and I saw that the girl was just as sweet looking as her voice sounded. She was a tiny thing, slim to the point of skinny, and her face was animated and friendly—especially her warm, brown eyes; her skin was suntan brown, a deep and healthy all over tan that I thought was impossible considering it was still winter outside, but that didn't seem to hinder her glow. Her front teeth were buck, just a bit longer than the rest of her other teeth, but she still smiled widely as if the world around her were made of nothing but pleasantness.

"Who are you?" I asked, too tired to be cordial or friendly.

"Oh, silly me." She said, and laughed. "I'm Gwendolyn," She answered. "Gwen for short. Charlie already told me that you're Nico and he's Percy." She pointed to my still sleeping beau, "If you were talking to him he probably won't wake up for a while, Len gave him a sedative about an hour ago. He was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, and you mumbled a lot so he started yelling, wondering why it was taking so long."

I felt myself blush. "Sorry," I apologized. "He's a bit protective."

"I'll say," Gwen smiled wider, managing somehow to look the picture of happiness. "But I thought he has a right to rant, you know? He was worried about you. But you woke back up just like Len said you would."

"So I did," I laughed a bit dryly, not sure if it was my sense of humor if it was the fact that I was unbelievably thirsty that caused the slight bite to my voice.

"How are you feeling?" Gwen asked sounding concerned.

I thought about it for a minute, physically I was still ill. My entire system was just one ache, throbbing and continuous. My heart was beating fast, my stomach clenching and my head pounding. "Pretty horrible." I admitted after another moment's pause. "But I think I'll live."

"I know you will, my boy." A deeper, more eloquent voice broke the air. It was smooth and intelligent, much like the man who owned it. Leneus moved into the room wearing a silk black suit, he looked rather dapper with his silver buttons glimmering in the still bright moonlight, not at all diffused by the overhead electric lights. "It was just as I thought; Chiron has been busy at work on his biggest masterpiece. The cure will be easy enough to produce, but it will take a while. I can treat your symptoms as they come, but you'll most likely still feel quite under the weather until you're properly medicated."

"So it's true that he's not contagious?" Gwen asked, looking somehow relieved.

"Fool some girl, of course he isn't contagious. I said he wasn't didn't I?" Replied Leneus curtly.

"Well, yeah, but it's just that some of the others are afraid that—"

"That I might have diagnosed him wrong? I knew his disease was not contagious simply from the fact that this morning we were all still alive. If he had somehow procured the first strand of Myostiplednia we would have been dead before the sun came up." A visible shudder ran through Gwendolyn and for a moment her happy exterior seemed to deflate considerably. "By the time he had gotten up to my office every single last person in this building would have been infected without even my knowing. So yes, I'm sure he's not contagious, you may go and tell the masses that much is true." He turned his pale blue eyes on her, "Now, if you'd please?"

For another moment Gwen looked hurt, but she nodded. When she left the room Leneus turned to me, for an older man his skin surprisingly wasn't leathery but soft and smooth and lined with so many wrinkles. His thick eyebrows drew together and he sighed.

"I hate to be so harsh with her," He admitted after another few seconds of silence. "She's become like a granddaughter to me over these past few years, but it was necessary that you and I talk in private for these few minutes that I can spare not working on your cure." I nodded. "Your boyfriend is a belligerent, bullheaded, egotist." Here Leneus smiled. "He almost singlehandedly wore my very deep reserves of patience thin. I gave him a tranquilizer simply to get him to _shut up_." Then came the laugh, a warm, fond chuckle. "I like him, he reminds me of myself fifty years ago." We both looked over at the sleeping, drooling form of Percy. "But, when he wasn't threatening my life, or making wild gestures because I was not working fast enough last night he did help me glean a few things. You and Chiron were close?"

"Close enough, I think. Percy was closer to him," I answered, feeling my strength beginning to wane. It was taking a lot to stay seated with my eyes open.

"Ah, you're beginning to feel the dregs of the few medications I've given you already, I'll try to make this quick." Leneus observed astutely. "The Halfblooders, Chiron has led them to believe we are an evil faction of ne'er-do-wells I'm quite sure given the reception the rogue youths of our humble society receive when they play their war games."

"War games?" I asked, almost overexerting myself as my voice was raised quite loudly. "They were throwing explosives! They burned down nearly half of our…of the camp." I replied, deciding to disassociate myself with Halfblood.

"Too true, I've spoken many words with them, trying to impress upon them that just because the leader of a people is evil does not mean that his charges are as well. They don't seem to understand that Halfblood is not one consecutive body." He shook his head, fine silver hair barely moving as it was slicked back against his skull, there were still a few flecks of blond caught in spaces between his short, combed strands. "But we're all human, and so we err." Then he sighed again, sounding very much like a defeated old man. "Nico," He said which made me focus on him even more. "When you were exposed to this virus from whom did you catch it? Was it a man in his mid-thirties with dark flaxen hair?"

"I—" My mind reeled back to the invalid lying just barely alive in that bed. "I couldn't tell, he was withered and not doing well when I came in, Chiron's using him to host the virus." Leneus' face aged instantly in front of me, the lines gathered around his mouth deepened as his lips quivered slightly and the skin around his brows furrowed so much that his thick eyebrows connected.

The silence was suffocating after that, Leneus' eyes roved my face as if I might be lying, pleading with me to be lying. I looked away from him, his gaze was too hard to hold. "I'm sorry." I said after another moment.

That seemed to rattle him back to his self. He wiped at his eyes with shaking hands, his mouth working before the words of soothing began to form. "No need for you to be sorry, my boy, it isn't your fault that I was a bad judge of character. This could have all been prevented if only I had read more deeply into that depraved man." There was a certain luster around Leneus that made it incredibly difficult to note his age, it had been flickering now as his emotions began to well and it did again flicker, making him seem so ancient. He closed his eyes, "I saw his brilliant mind and his eagerness to learn instead of the underlying madness just below the surface."

I realized suddenly that Leneus was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders, "You can't blame yourself for the way Chiron is." I told him, trying desperately not to yawn—I should not have still been this tired after having slept for a day and a half. "I'm sure he was crazy long before you met him."

"Yes but there were so many signs!" Leneus replied in a hoarse whisper. "I looked past them all, past his social withdrawals, he was always mirthful at the most inopportune moments, like when a fellow classmate of his announced the death of her grandmother he burst into laughter, his hatred of even constructive criticism, there were so many things that should have led me to believe he was unwell."

"Leneus," I said, "I don't know you at all but you don't seem like the kind of guy who would let someone like Chiron roam free like he has been. This isn't your fault."

Leneus' mouth formed into a very brittle smile, "Thank you, my boy. I'm much too old for comforting, but you have a good heart. That will be refreshing around here." He turned towards the door, "The man that Chiron kidnapped was Maron, they were once good friends competing against one another for spots in my advanced placement classes. They'd both done rather well for themselves, but Chiron's success was marginally better. Maron has been studying under me for a long while now, I guess you could say that he's been taking care of things around here more that these old bones couldn't handle. My brother Sil won't admit it but we're much past our prime, I'm afraid." He shook his head and opened the door. "Thank you for your time, young man. I'll check on you shortly, but I've got to attend to the others; I'm sure you'll most likely be sleeping again soon, your body needs quite a lot of rest as you've most likely already noticed. Your boyfriend will be awake shortly."

The atmosphere of the room felt profound. I wasn't exactly sure how to end our meeting but I thought that something needed to be said. I opened my mouth to say something, anything really, but a rather powerful yawn ripped out of me the moment I did. I heard the door close and a moment of perplexity hit me. Was I supposed to go back to sleep? I supposed I was, but it seemed that way. I settled back into the chair, exhausted and a bit confused.

We had shown up here, just like Halfblood, not knowing what to expect. We had been happy at Halfblood, not just getting by but living, and happily. We had a life at Halfblood, Percy and me. A dreadful, drilling sense of woe fell over me before I could put my emotions in check. Always when I started to be happy something horrible would happen.

My mom and sister died, then The Mist, and then to top it all off Chiron goes crazy. Just when I thought I had earned joy it was ripped away from me. Just when everything felt right _something_ went wrong. It aggrieved me deeply that fate seemed so set against leaving me be.

I felt my eyes beginning to droop, tears stinging them slightly, and I laid down on the couch, curling up into a ball.

I closed my eyes completely, conflicted with a sudden rush of tiredness and antagonism. Who would have thought that surviving the end of the world wouldn't have been the end of my problems? Anger and frustration joined the palate of emotions welling up inside of me. Unconsciously I gripped the fabric of the couch tightly in my hand, it crinkled under my grasp, and I felt the tears that by now weren't even tears of sadness, just of bafflement at our entire predicament.

Another hand landed on top of mine, "Nico?" A calloused finger wiped at my cheek. "Fuck, Nico, don't cry. Leneus said he could cure you. We have to trust him," Here Percy's words cracked. "There has to be someone we can trust!" His voice was a hoarse whisper and his lips were against my forehead now, he was so close. A droplet of water touched my face, warm and salty, and I knew the tears weren't my own but his. "You're gonna be alright, okay, Nico?" He said again, taking everything inside of me and expressing it in his deep quavering voice.

I opened my eyes and stared at him. He looked every bit as tired as I felt and he was the one crying. Reaching up I touched his face too, and somewhere deep in the pit of my soul I managed a smile. "I'm going to be okay," I told him quietly. "I promise."

"You can't leave me." He answered vehemently, his lip quavered and fresh tears spilling forth. "Please, God, don't leave me Nico. You're all I ever needed in this world, you're all I ever I wanted."

And just like that I was better inside. With the little strength I still had left I pulled Percy down onto the tiny couch and wrapped myself around him, in a position we had assumed a million times before.

His heartbeat was comforting in my ear.

"Don't you know I would never leave you, Percy? Never, okay?" His lips were in my hair in the next moment and I couldn't stay conscious much longer. "Never, do you hear me?" I repeated into his chest.

"I love you so much."

"Love…you…too…" Then the sweet darkness of sleep enveloped me. I didn't know if I could keep my promise to Percy, I didn't know if Leneus could really cure me, hell, I didn't even know if I would wake up again but it had become a necessary thing for him and I, the comfort we provided each other. Without him I wouldn't have survived either way and I knew that without me he couldn't either, the only thing I could do was try.

I did know one thing though: if I survived Chiron would pay.


	19. Chapter 19

**Note: Posted with Permission**

 **Summary:** In a post-apocalyptic world Nico di Angelo is searching for somewhere to call home, tired of the always being on the move. But, he gets so much more when he meets an unexpected travelling companion and he remembers what it's like to be around people. It scares him in a way he has never known! This is the story of youth. This is the story of how Nico stopped trying to live his life as a loner and just started living. This is the story about Nico finding not only himself but that special person he had been unwittingly looking for. This is the story of how Nico discovered love.

 **Chapter Nineteen:** A Change in Perspective

Nico was being quarantined, Silenus thought it was for the best and so did I. They tried to quarantine me too, but I told them if I'd caught The Mist I probably would have collapsed already, like my boyfriend had a few days ago. It was enough for Len to leave me alone about it, but his brother Sil kept giving me the evil eye.

I didn't blame him, I guess. I wouldn't have trusted us either; hell, for all they knew we could have been spies sent by Chiron to infect the entire Cloven camp. Still, it was hard going without Nico there to calm my head. I guess not a lot of people would know it, but I'm what some might call "rash" and others might just call plain stupid. I do things without thinking about them almost always and I trust people way too easy. 'Course, I always like to think I'm a fair judge of character. It's how I snagged Nico in the first place—aside from, you know, trying to have sex with him within the first few hours of meeting him. I should probably apologize for that sooner or later.

Sitting out on the front steps petting Mrs. O'Leary's head I thought about our chance meeting. Nico might not have believed it, but I really truly believed it was fate that we met. I think that God, or the gods, or whoever's out there set it up for us to fall in love and I'm so glad we did.

I love him, and that's what made watching him cough fitfully, and shiver, and burn up and just lay there aching so painful for me. I just get so hotheaded thinking about what Chiron did to him, thinking about what Chiron did to all of us; and it makes me see red. I ain't ever been so mad that I saw red before, and I ain't ever understood the expression, but I did now. I could _hear_ the blood vessel on temple throbbing, and everything in my body went all tense, and the world had a white-red tint to it that sort of made you forget what you were doing and just caused you to rage.

I was forced outside of Len's lab because of that, my yelling had been pretty loud. I apologized afterward, got Nico back to sleep, and came down here to cool off. I could see my breath in the air, it was thin and wispy and even in all this cold I was still burning up inside. I looked around trying to distract myself. Winter was almost over, already the snow was melting and draining into the sewers making the street look like it was running with grease instead of water. The air was still plenty cold, but not frigid like before. I sighed and Mrs. O'Leary licked my hand, nudging it with her nose. She probably missed Tyson, but he was a hit with the older folks inside who didn't really like Mrs. O'Leary's bigness, or the fact that she looked like a killing machine.

Like I said: they didn't trust us. A kitten, sure, nothing wrong with a cat, but a hundred and fifty pound mutt that looked scarily close to a hellhound? No thanks. "Nobody wants us around, girl." I laughed at her and she whined pitifully. "It's alright, I still like you plenty." I smiled, scratching behind her ears. She laid her head in my lap, probably sensing my mood. I was miserable. Nico was sick, the man who had slowly becoming like, if not a father then a very close uncle to me, had infect him, the very few friends I had who were still alive were basically prisoners without knowing it and all I was doing was sitting on the stairs of the Empire State building watching water run down the street drains.

"Young man you look to be down, upon your face there is a frown." I looked up, Janus was hobbling towards me on his cane, evidently his left leg was bad because it hardly bent at all. He was wearing a plaid, moth eaten suit and a pair of scuffed doc martens. Sitting beside me with difficulty he grunted until he was safely on the ground. But, the right side of his mouth twisted into a smile as Mrs. O'Leary licked at his hand. "You're a good pup, lass, I had a dog like you some years passed." His smile was far off for a moment. "Before I lost my love, before I lost my life." There were ghosts in his multicolored eyes, memories dancing across their brown and green surfaces . "I lost my child, and I lost my wife." That was like a cold splash of water, it made me blink and my mouth fell open. He held up a hand as if to silence me and I stayed quiet. "I know it well, what you're going through my son. Don't despair, you are not the only one. And though it seems darkest just before the dawn, you have to remember your love and keep caring on."

"Janus, everything just feels fucked up." I admitted. "Pardon my language." I amended. "I mean, who can I trust? Chiron he—well, you know what he did. I've never been more hurt." He was looking at me with such a kind expression, his thin salt-and-pepper hair catching in the wind. "I'm just so fucking mad."

"We may not be acquainted well Percy and I have difficulty communicating after the accident, but trust me and know that I am compassionate. I want you to know that you have a friend in me." His hand landed on my shoulder and he squeezed once. "If you ever need to talk know that I am not your enemy. You are angry, of this I know. Your love sits unwell, and you are fretful, so. You must have faith that he is strong, and that nothing will go wrong. He will surprise you, Percy."

"You sure you're just a doorman? Confucius reincarnated, maybe?" I asked him.

"Perhaps." He said with that far off smile and gave a small laugh. Then he stood. "But, I'll leave you now, my young friend. Remember this moment's pain will someday end." I thanked him and waved him off as he hobbled away.

I felt my anger like a fever breaking, it wasn't immediate and it wouldn't go away anytime soon, but I really needed to something else to focus, I was going crazy with worry. And, I guess I felt a little better. I mean, I did. I was happy that Janus had shared an experience with me. He had gone the extra mile, seeing someone down on their luck and talking to him, to me, but that didn't make me feel any better about the situation itself. I don't know, the anger didn't _leave_ me, I was still plenty mad, but something was different, something broke it up into smaller, more manageable pieces.

My face was cold now, like the fire that had been in me had just turned to ice instead. My head became clearer, my thinking straighter, and I didn't know what I had to do, but I knew something needed to be done. I stood up, Mrs. O'Leary jumping up behind me. She missed Nico, I know she did. I petted the top of her head and turned towards the door. I hated to keep her in our room because I didn't want her to feel trapped, but I hated keeping her outside in the cold too.

"C'mon, girl." I said, shoving my hands deep in my pockets. She followed behind, her tongue lolling out and her tail wagging. When we got to the door Janus wasn't there, which meant he was making his rounds. It occurred to me that he'd said something about an accident, I wondered what had happened. It was puzzling. I ducked into the elevator with Mrs. O'Leary behind me, I was so out of it that I didn't notice the big guy standing opposite to me on the elevator till he was tapping me on the shoulder.

"Earth to Percy." I jumped and Mrs. O'Leary barked, almost as if she was laughing at me.

"Charlie!" I said grasping at my heart, it was beating faster than an honery jackrabbit being chased through the desert by a hungry would. "When did you get in here?"

"I was holding the door for you, you walked right by me outside" Charlie laughed, "I was out for a smoke, but your heads all fogged up I can see and you didn't even notice me." He was wearing that big, brotherly grin of his. Smiling myself I felt my embarrassment, my cheeks were hot and I looked away from him.

"Sorry," I said quietly, he nudged my shoulder and I glanced back up at him.

"Worried about Nico?" He guessed, rightly. I didn't say anything, there wasn't really anything _to_ say. The question was obviously rhetorical and I was still reeling from the brief rhyming heart-to-heart Janus had given me. "I know how you feel," He said bitterly. "I'm going out of my mind picturing Leena all the way back there without me. I mean, she can handle herself. The girl's taken me down in practice before, but she's outgunned, outnumbered, and just too far out of distance for me to come running." He grimaced.

I stared at him again, this time harder. His eyes were dark brown, a deep, soulful umber and they looked just like mine. Not color wise but I saw in him the same thing I felt inside of myself: fear. It wasn't some fear bourne out of over-protectiveness but a very real fear that the ones we loved might not survive without us. "Why not?" I asked after a beat, he looked back up at me as if I had grown a second head.

"What?"

"Why can't we go get her? You were supposed to go back anyway, right? We can get the guys on our side, show them who Chiron really is. We can save her, we can save all of them, Charlie."

The elevator gave an impatient dinging sound, we hadn't selected a floor yet.

"You're talking crazy, Jackson." Charlie said. "It's a day early, Silena is waiting for the signal, she's still gathering intel, we can't just eject her from a mission, you know that. You were a soldier."

"I was a soldier in training," I corrected. "I was on the base but I'd just barely finished basic, never saw any real action. But, this isn't the same thing and you know it."

"This is war, Percy." Charlie was serious now. His shoulders were tense and he was standing to his full height and he was just a wall of muscle before me, a giant. Not many people towered over me but he was big, and he was hurt, and I was goading him, there was no telling what he would do. But, I knew Charlie was level-headed, I knew I could push him. It _was_ crazy, the planning that was forming in the back of my head that I realized had been forming since Nico and I had jumped in that pick-up truck. "Imagine that the Camp is a nation and this hotel is a nation with differing views. Chiron is an extremist, Percy. I won't risk Silena and everyone else's life on the off chance that we might be able to pull them all out beforehand."

"Even if you knew it had the chance for a high success rate?" I asked, standing to my full height now. "Even if you could be holding Silena in your arms by tomorrow morning, kissing her, touching her hair, telling her how much you love her? Even then, Charlie?" It was like some horrible kind of torture because his sweet, happy face twisted in the most agonizing way. He looked like the real war was what was happening inside of his head.

"Even if I thought it was a good idea we don't have the manpower, Perce." He growled, not yet consenting. His fist was balled and shaking and I'm sure it was taking every ounce of willpower that the military had drilled in him to keep resisting. I knew it was selfish in some way, but if I couldn't go into Nico's sickroom without flipping out I just wanted Charlie to have what I couldn't. At least that's what I told myself, I knew, deeper down, that I was just being horribly selfish.

"I've seen what the little bit of manpower we do have can do," I said remembering that horrendous night The Cloven had invaded. "They don't know how many of you guys there really are, and it seems like those kids know the layout of the Camp better than they should."

"I mapped it out for them," He admitted, guilt added onto the pain and sadness in his voice now.

"We know where the bunker is, we know where the weapons are. I say we strike tonight while everything is still in disarray."

"You're fucking nuts, man." Charlie said, his shoulders shaking.

"You love her, don't you Charlie? You'd do anything to get her back? Let me help." I felt my stomach twist in a manipulative knot, nausea washed over me so strong it almost knocked me back, but I held my ground and stood on my own two feet. It hurt, steering him, but the need for revenge was still strong no matter what I told myself and my newfound clarity made it all seem so easy. Charlie did the most un-Charlie like thing I'd ever seen him do before. He punched the reflective metal of the elevator wall, which dented under his massive fist like paper.

"God-fucking-dammit Percy!" He roared. "You know I do! You know it's taking every fucking bone in my body to stay here, idle. You know I want to rip that shitstain Chiron a new asshole, you fucking know and you're trying to coerce into this because Nico's lying up there in the infirmary."

"And I'm trying to get you to fucking man up and get your woman, Charlie!" I said back at him. He stared me down, if he hadn't've been bald I'm sure the hair on the back of his neck would have been standing up like hackles. His lips peeled back in a vicious sneer and he balled his fist again. This time I was sure he was going to hit me, but he dropped his arm down by his side and sighed so heavily I wasn't sure if he had any air in his lungs left.

"I love Nico like a little brother, Percy." He said. "It fucking sucks what Chiron did to him, and I can't in good conscious let you sit here stewing in your anger. I know that if I don't go along with this you'll do it without my permission anyway," The next thing I knew there was a rush of lightning quick movement and he had me strung up by my collar; my head hit the wall hard knocking stars into my vision, and he was glaring at me. "But, if you ever, _ever_ question how deeply I love Silena Beauregard or try to manipulate me again I'll snap your neck in half, do you understand me?" Mrs. O'Leary was growling lowly, menacingly, but even she and all of her animal ferocity stood little chance against this bear of a man. I could feel the power in his arms as he flexed experimentally. I was good, I knew I was, but Charlie was better. Strong with cobra-like reflexes; he was a trained killer regardless of his friendly demeanor, and I knew he didn't make idle threats. I nodded, the wind knocked out of me.

"I'm sorry." I choked as he dropped me and my feet hit the ground, he hit the button for the top floor—Len's office—and he gave a rolling shrug which popped his neck and back respectively. That coldness in me that was so much like a raging fire turned into deep guilt. I looked up into his eyes and I knew there were no words for what I had said, what I had tried to do. "I—" He held up a silencing hand.

"I would've done the same thing." He said very seriously. "If I was in your place I would have went the same night Nico got sick. Still, I'm sorry too for almost knocking you out."

"You kidding me? I was about to hit you in the jugular, knock the breath out of you, and pin you to the floor." I grinned back at him. He chuckled. Rubbing the back of my neck I added, "But I think you might have given me whiplash."

Clapping me on the back he said, "I think you'll live, soldier." Mrs. O'Leary's eyes were a dead black now, focused solely on Charlie, she wasn't barking or growling, only dead silent with a gaze that could kill concentrated on him. "I made your dog mad." He told me.

"Well, she thought you were hurting me."

"I _was_ hurting you." He corrected.

"There you go, you better watch your back. She holds grudges like you wouldn't believe." Then I called her over to us. "Sit." I said and she did, obediently. "Charlie is our friend, okay?" I asked her, locking eyes with her. She whined pitifully. "You spoilt thing, he's our _friend_ , right? I was just being a jackass and he saw through me a mile long, understand?" She looked away. "Understand?" I asked again. This time she looked back at me and then laid her head on the floor. I turned back to Charlie, "Now pet her."

"Man, I'm not losing my hand 'cause you're trying to teach that thing." He replied.

"You know Mrs. O'Leary, Charlie. She's hurt you'd even say such a thing." I laughed. "She'll only attack if I tell her to, or if you hurt Nico. Hell, if I step to Nico wrong she'll jump me." The elevator door dinged open. "I ain't letting you out of this thing until you pet her, Charlie."

Resignedly he said, "Dammit," Letting out a huff of air he kneeled down to pet her, she growled before his hand even landed on her head but I clamped my hands around her muzzle.

"No." I said firmly and motioned for him to try again. This time she let him pet her, he scratched her behind the ear. Eventually she licked his hand.

"My, my, what a bonding experience this is." Leneus stood in the door of the elevator (no wonder it hadn't closed yet) and was staring down on us with a fond smile. "Are you boys going to hog the lift all day or are you going to come check in on the patient as per the past few hours' precedence's?"

I stood, "How is he?"

"Much the same, I'm afraid. He's barely lucid because the fever spiked again, but I've sedated him and sat a bag of ice around his body, it should break the fever this time." He motioned we come in and the elevator doors closed behind us. "If only I had more of my other instruments. When the government realized what Chiron had done they came for us—all of us. I grabbed what I could and ran, you see, and well, here we are. No EKG machines, no MRI machines, I lifted an IV, but I don't have any saline to set in the drip," He continued to walk us toward Nico's side of the room. A plastic partition had been set off separating him from the rest of the spacious office, one that looked so similar to the one in Chiron's underground lab that it was eerie if not more shabbily thrown together. Len moved the plastic aside and stepped through, Charlie behind him and me behind Charlie.

"You _can_ cure him though, can't you?"

"I've done it before," Len replied, "the results were less than desirable but Nico's condition hasn't progressed as far as Janus' had—" Then he stopped himself and looked up at me as if he had just revealed something. "Shit." He spat and understanding flooded my head. "Sil always has said I'm a bit of a gossip when I'm working, you are not to repeat that to anyone, do you hear me? Both of you."

"Janus had Mist?" I asked, sounding damn near befuddled.

"Promise me you won't speak a word of it first and I may deny or acknowledge that statement," Was the answer.

"Alright, fine. I won't tell anyone." I said.

"Me neither," Charlie replied, sounding intrigued. "How did you hide it? He's been with us since almost the beginning."

"He was lucky," Len said, "He's how I knew the nonlethal strand had been produced. It was far less advanced than the one I'm dealing with now with Nico here, but he had caught it nonetheless. I would treat him with home remedies while everyone else slept, those days he would come complaining about leg problems were really code for fatigue from his illness. The fever affected his mind, I was afraid at first that it was either a tumor of some sort or an aneurysm that made him speak in rhymes, but it's neither. His brain overheated, not terminally but so much so that it doesn't appear to be able to recover, once brain cells die they cannot be restored. I did what I could, I've been administering the same treatment to your boyfriend but with little effect. I know now that it can't be treated immediately, back then I had enough medicine and painkillers to keep him concealed but since then I have doled them out to a great deal of patients and I must resort to almost apothecaric methods."

"But is he getting better?" I asked.

"It's too early to tell," Leneus replied despondently, "and even if he does recover there is no guarantee that he will be of the same mind he was in before he fell into this stupor. There is only so much I can do without the help of modern medicine."

I looked down at the body in that bed, and I know Nico wasn't incredibly short as much as I picked with him, but he looked so small in there, like he was drowning by himself in those sheets. And here I was on dry fucking land just watching him.

"I'm doing all I can, Percy." Len said, gripping my arm. "But, as I told you thirty minutes ago I cannot have you barging in here at all hours to check on him. This is an arduous process, one that I _can_ overcome but only if I'm not interrupted so often."

I looked at Charlie who gave me an affirmative nod, "Okay." I said. "Okay, I'm sorry." I grabbed Nico's hand, then I leaned forward and kissed his dry lips. They tasted like all sort of different herbs.

"He might not be contagious but I don't advise that," Len pulled me and Charlie towards the plastic, where we pushed it aside and then he continued pushing up towards the door. "Now, leave us to peace. If there are any changes or if he wakes again I will send someone for you, Perseus."I nodded, there were only so many ways I could say okay. Turning towards the elevator again Len said, "Oh, and don't forget your dog."

Mrs. O'Leary was lying by Nico's side now. This was the first time she'd gotten to see him since we had driven down. "She won't bother you." I said. "I couldn't move her now if I had a bag of Beggin' Strips and the Jaws of Life." Leneus sighed in frustration.

"Fine. But I am not above sedating an animal, it's quite harmless for them and reassures that I will not get attacked."

I felt my mouth forming a smile, a small, tired one, and I said, "She won't bite you, long as you don't hurt Nico." Leneus looked at me as if I'd just said something very revealing, then he nodded.

"I see," He said. "She's a guard dog, and she'll her job, is that what you're telling me?" I smirked, nodding. "You're a very cautious man, Perseus. But, I wouldn't like you if you weren't. As long as you promise she won't interfere."

"She won't." I said, Mrs. O'Leary looked up at Len with waiting eyes, judging him. "Be good, girl." I instructed her, and though I'd never given her the command before she showed an aptitude for it, at a seeming ease immediately. I could still see the tenseness in her body though, Nico was just as much hers as he was mine, maybe more; he looked like her pup lying there with her curled around him.

Charlie and I stepped into the elevator and I watched as Leneus fiddled around with different mixing beakers, immediately getting back to work. Charlie's gigantic hand clamped down on my shoulder. "It shouldn't take too long to round up the guys," He said. I looked up at him but the wrinkled consternation on his forehead was still there. "I'm not a hundred percent sure about this," He continued, "Shit, I'm not even forty percent on it, but I saw what you did with the Ponies. I know if anyone can get Selena out of there it's you."

"It'll be us." I corrected. "You'll see."

Charlie laughed, his the skin around his eyes crinkling down to his cheeks from long nights and fatigue, he was so tired but he was still laughing, "You're one crazy sunavabitch, Percy Jackson."

"Love makes you do stupid shit, Charlie. You know that."

"Yeah." He said. "Yeah, I do." He put his arm the rest of the way around my shoulders and hugged me to the side of his chest. I ended up in a headlock, him playfully grinding his fist into my head.

If you've ever been blackout drunk, and I'm not saying you have but let's not split hairs here, then you'll understand that it is no fun to be constantly waking up in new and different places. It is, in fact, scary as shit.

So, imagine my surprise when I woke up on a fucking operating table in Len's office. I mean, if you can call my groggy, eye-squinted, nearly-lucid-dreaming state of consciousness awake. I was aware of two things, one: I had to piss so bad. So bad. Like, I had been storing it like a camel or something and now my bladder was fighting back and if I didn't find a bathroom soon there was likely to be a need to call Noah and his Ark.

Two: when you haven't properly moved for, what, a week? Your body is incredibly numb, and when it, itself, begins to wake up all hell breaks loose in the form a ten trillion needles prickling into your muscles.

"Oh, you've awakened." Len's voice was an echoing cacophony of distortion. My fever wasn't broken completely, I knew that from how damn hot—or was I cold?—I was. My vision swam and my head was throbbing. "Take it easy, you probably should just try to go on back to sleep."

"Piss." I managed to say eloquently, my voice was cracked and unused.

"You need to urinate? Lucky you I've hooked you into a catheter, then. Spoils of raiding hospitals," I won't tell you how much joy that brought me because I couldn't move, I also won't inform you of what happened in the next few moments, but I'm going to guess while it happened Leneus went back to working. He was quite for a long time after that too. "Good news, there's no blood in your urine." He piped up after an indeterminable amount of time. "Bad news, we have to get more fluids in you, I think you're dehydrated. But, even better news, I'm almost positive that I have isolated this branch of Mist, and even more almost certain that I'm close to curing it."

"Water." I croaked.

"Yes, right. The dehydration," I heard liquid being poured, "I was going to do this intravenously, but seeing as how you're properly awake for the time being I think you can handle it. Swallow slowly." There was a pressure on the back of my head that I realized was Len leaning me up, then something plastic touched my lips and cool water splashed my tongue. I only choked once, at the initial watering because every instinct in my body screamed to guzzle down this divine drink as if it were the last I would ever sip, but when the cup was pulled away and Leneus was helping me catch my breath I knew I had to stem the urge.

We tried again, my eyes still hurt so I didn't open them all the way, and my everything else still hurt too so I didn't move much, but I managed down a good portion of the water before I was laid back down.

"More." I said, fingers shaking with the desire to reach out.

"You'll vomit," Leneus said, sympathy in his voice. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can give you until I'm sure you've got it all down. Please, Nico, please try to get more sleep. A wise man said that rest combats sickness." Obviously he had never been confined to a state of unmoving then. "Percy has been by your side almost constantly, if you're wondering." He added. "He even left you one guard dog by the name of O'Leary." Which would explain the almost blistering heat at my side, damn but the dog was warm.

"Hot," I said, hoping he'd take the hint.

"It'll help you sweat the fever out. Close your eyes, Nico. I've a sedative prepared for your animal, but I'll use it on you if need be." My eyes couldn't have been open very wide but I relaxed my face as best I could and the jabbing pain immediately left me. Apparently I had had them open, and it was quite bright. "You're fighting this well, my boy. I just hope we get you healed before your boyfriend rushes off and does something idiotic. I have nothing to keep him busy here and revenge is most likely on his mind, idle hands are the devil's playthings you know." I didn't. But, his voice had a very calming lilt to it. I couldn't keep together a proper stream of thoughts with him rambling on.

Everything went black again and I found myself in a place where pain couldn't reach.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty:** Blood In The Water

My head was still swimming. Good news: I was still in the same spot; no one had moved my body in however many minutes or hours I had been laying here. I opened my eyes, surprised to see that I could, well, _see_. After dealing with the blurs and oblong shapes behind my eyes for so long I had almost thought my vision would be permanently nothing but dots and hazes.

"Damn upstarts," I heard somewhere in the room with me. It was late in the day from the way the sun was shining pinkish-gold through the window.

"Calm yourself, Sil." Leneus replied to his brother. "They're young, they're hurt. You and I both knew we couldn't keep them caged up forever, more and more they've been leaking out, hurting innocent people because they do not understand who is really to blame." Sil made a derisive sound in the back of his throat.

"Hmph." He harrumphed.

"You still think I'm to blame, don't you?" Leneus asked, his voice a hurt whisper. "I've explained to you—"

"Yet you were the one who let those young boys work in your lab unattended. You knew about this epidemic, you saw it. It was covered up but you knew about it. You _let_ this happen, Leneus. If you wouldn't have been half drowned in wine—"

"Enough!" Leneus shouted. I sat up. They were some ways off, there was a divide of plastic between us and they were huddled at a desk. Len was sitting and Silenus was standing in front of him, both facing away from me. "That is quite enough, brother. I asked you in here to show you that the boy was fine, his fever is breaking and is already down five degrees. I did not, however, ask for your reticule, for your shame."

"The boy is better." Sil replied steadily. "You have been properly right once since this whole thing began. You have made one good decision. I applaud you, Len, really I do. But are you aware that they are amassing downstairs? You realize that they're going to _attack_ your former student and every single innocent person there? This time Charles is with them, and he may be the most hurt of them all. He won't send them back, he won't be undercover to stop them. This will be slaughter."

"What would you have me do, then!" Leneus jumped up now. "They are not being led by Charles, no, he isn't level headed right now because anything could be happening to Silena. She could only hold that position for so long. Chiron is _smart_ , brother. He is so clever. A ruse will not last long on him and he has more than likely tied together the fact that if Charlie was working for us then she quite possibly could have been as well."

"So you let the dangerous one lead them." Silenus's accusatory tone was sharp, hair splittingly so.

"Perseus won't kill—" _Percy_! My mind leapt at hearing his name. Percy was going to lead the Cloven into battle with Camp Halfblood? But he couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that. But, Mrs. O'Leary's tail thumped against my leg and my mind was becoming clearer, the fog finally lifting, and I knew that he would do anything – if it was for me.

"You know him so well!" Silenus roared. "Look at you, brother. Look at you! You were once a leader, once revered. I have stayed quiet this long because the others look to you for guidance, but I see this shell of a man you are. You are weak, Len. I should have taken over long ago. We have been idle here too long. For all we know Perseus and the boy laying propped up in your laboratory with the sickness that you and your pupils manufactured could be leading them back to us."

"No, they wouldn't…" Len's voice trailed off. "No, I looked them in the eyes. They are genuine. Chiron hurt them, he hurt them like he has hurt us all. Alicia would still be alive—" The sound of Sil's hand coming down hard on the table broke the air like a hammer striking.

"But they would! You sentimental old fool, these boys are not a replacement for any of our grandchildren. Alicia, rest her soul, would be as sickened by you now as I am."

"Your wife knew compassion, Silenus. Something you seem to have forgotten." I watched as Sil reached across the desk and grabbed a handful of Len's shirt by the collar. It was at that moment I realized I should step in.

"If it's any consolation," I piped up, my voice weak and unused but clear. "we're not. Not spies or whatever it is you guys are talking about. We're just…we're just lost. I think everyone is nowadays." They both looked over at me, Silenus with contempt and a deep hatred in his eyes and Leneus with wonder and excitement. "Speaking of which, you said Percy was leading people to Halfblood? Why is no one trying to stop him?"

"Because he has got the majority of all of our able bodied people on his side." Sil spat venomously. "Retribution! Blood! They're insatiable and he is just the messiah they have been looking for. He has promised them revenge, and he intends to give it to them thanks to your helplessness."

"My…helplessness?" I asked,

"If you had not allowed yourself to be fooled by Chiron—"

"Listen here—" I moved to stand but as if to give weight to Silenus' statement my legs almost gave out on me. I held to the table for dear life, trying to will my legs to work.

"You've just not moved for a while, there shouldn't be any long term damage." Len came over to me, the front of his normally impeccably ironed shirt wrinkled now. "Ignore my brother, he is full of hatred and anger and he has no other way to show his emotion but derisive comments and his fists. He has always been impulsive, even when we were younger." He stared sadly over at his brother for a moment who would not meet either of our eyes. "If we're quick perhaps we can catch up to your beloved hothead." Putting his arm around my shoulders he led me past Len and to the elevator.

The doors began to close once we were inside and the last image I got was Silenus staring at me, his eyes black in the setting sun, his face wrinkled to the bone and shadowed. He hated me. He hated all outsiders I'm sure, but me most especially. Then we began descending.

"I'm sorry." Len said straightening his tie. "For Sil." He clarified.

"It's—" But the next thing I knew there was a blinding light in first my left eye, then my right and something shoved in my mouth. A thermometer.

"Your eyes look good, no discoloration, proper dilation, can you follow my finger?" Right to left, left to right, up and down I followed his finger. "Good." He pulled the thermometer out of my mouth. "100.1 fever's still there, but a grand change from the whopping one-hundred and eight you were at before, and it appears to be dropping still. Do you mind?" He held up a stethoscope that was around his neck that I hadn't had the chance to notice.

"I don't guess I—"

"Lift your shirt," I did and quick as a wink he had the ear tips in his ears, "Heartbeat is a tad faster than normal, but that's to be expected." He transitioned the cold diaphragm to my back. "Take a deep breath." I did. "The mucus sounds like its breaking up, no particular blockages. I'm going to apply pressure on your abdomen, tell me if it hurts." He pressed in on my stomach, his fingers probing deep as he searched for god knows what.

"Nope." I told him in my scratchy voice.

"Mkay, put your shirt down and open your mouth." This was all very clinical. He pulled a tongue depressor from his front lab coat pocket and pushed down against my tongue, shining the same little light inside of my mouth that he did inside of my eyes. "Still a little inflammation, but nothing major. I can't give you a proper diagnosis, but you seem to be recovering rather well." I felt disheveled and out of sorts but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak the elevator dinged. "Perfect timing, come, my boy."

He helped me out of the elevator and into the lobby where the first thing we saw was Janus looking flustered, his collar upturned and his eyes wide, "Kids out of bed, kids out of bed! Without my permission they left!"

"Calm down, Janus, I know they've left. We're hoping to circumvent this entire situation, we'll be going to the garage, keep watch for me, please, and try not to let my brother rile the others." Leneus was strong for an old man, he gripped me by the arm and led me off. Since my time here had consisted of being confined to my room and being confined to Len's lab I realized I knew exactly three other people, Charlie, Gwendolyn, and Janus. So as we walked through the building and people's face began popping out it shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did.

"I thought you said you guys were few in number?" I asked, there were tons of children and what looked like whole families.

Len answered, "We've expanded over the years, yes. But, we're still a small community. We don't have nearly the brute force Chiron does. Whereas life here resembles a semblance of normalcy did you not find it strange that people at Halfblood have yet to begin procreating?"

"I—" Well now that I thought about it it was weird that no one had even been pregnant in the few months we'd been there. No new babies, and in a place full of people from their late teens to mid-twenties that was strange. "I hadn't thought about it like that."

"My guess is that somehow Chiron is keeping everyone sterile, at least until he can begin his uprising. He needs his soldiers in top form. In another year he would have taken over this facility, absorbed it, taken our best men and continued on." We stopped outside of a door, "I agree that he needs to be stopped, but waging full scale war on him as unprepared as we are will not yield good results for us." He knocked on the door, almost immediately it was answered. "Dakota, my boy, I knew you would still be here. I have a request." The guy, Dakota, looked hung over, there was no other way to describe it. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was everywhere, his shirt was buttoned improperly, pants unzipped, and his shoes didn't match.

"Len, thank god the voice of reason is here," He said evenly enough, maybe if he was hung over he knew how to handle it. "I told those other guys they were idiots if they wanted to move in on those Halfblooders now. I said you wouldn't like it,"

Leneus nodded his head, "And I do not, which is why I came to you. I need The Keys."

"Really? You're going to take it out?" Dakota asked, running a hand through his sloppy hair. I couldn't even tell what color it was in this light. His shirt had a huge red stain on it, not dark enough to be blood but the smell radiating off of him said it definitely wasn't just juice.

"I am," Len replied staunchly. "I think Nico will drive, though. These old eyes aren't what they once were, I'm afraid." That was when Dakota finally settled his eyes on me, the strangest thing happened: a crazy smile spread across his lips.

"Son of a bitch, if it isn't the guy who almost killed us all! You're famous around here, bud." Dakota clapped me on the arm, hard. "Not every day a guy and his _boyfriend_ walk in here with The Mist."

"Dakota, we really haven't the time—" Len cleared his throat.

"I mean you guys are all anyone's been talking about for almost two days, then that Percy guy whips up all the other dudes into a frenzy about revenge and stuff. It was a good speech, guy's got leader qualities. Hell, if I was more drunk I probably would have followed him—"

"Dakota." Leneus said again, his voice had a hard edge to it. "The Keys, if you will?"

"Oh, yeah. Here, let me find them," Dakota ran back into his apartment, and from where I was standing it did not look habitable. He popped back out a minute later. "Here you go, try not to scratch her, she's my baby." He handed me something that jingled as they were placed in my palm. "I'm trusting you, dude." He slurred.

I unballed my fist and a key was staring back up at me, just one, and I didn't recognize the make,"Okay," I said, "two questions before we go." Len nodded. "First: why would you give that guy keys to a vehicle, I can smell alcohol from here."

"Truthfully it gives him something to do, Dakota is normally sober, and he is a smart young man."

"Who just so happens to smell like a distillery. Gotcha." Then I looked down at the key in my hand. "Alright and second: what does this go to, the Batmobile?"

Leneus just grinned, "Why yes," He said, "in fact it does."

When we got to the garage a few minutes later I had no idea what that comment had meant, until the lights were flipped on.

"Are you kidding me?" Were the first words to tumble out of my mouth. An honest-to-God Batmobile was sitting in front of me, sleek with black finish and a long body. It was probably the second most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The first not needing explanation.

"We must be quick, my boy." Len said getting into the passenger's seat and clicking the garage door open. "Quickly, quickly." I got in on the driver's side not needing any further prompting. "Start the engine," I did. I wasn't a car buff, nor had I ever really looked into cars, but this thing purred to life. But, there was no time to admire the nearly soundess engine, or the plush leather seat, the steering wheel that conformed to my grip. The fact that I was sitting in the fucking Batmoible! I put it in gear, thankful that my father had taught me stick shift, and we were pulling out into the dreary morning to catch a band of revenge seekers, my boyfriend at their helm.

"Alright," I said as the wind breezed by us, Percy and the others couldn't be too far ahead. "I know this is a somber occasion, but how in the world did you get this car?"

"This, dear boy, is the concept car known as the Lincoln Futura, and as you so put it before, it once belong to the superhero Batman as portrayed by Adam West in 1966. I took some…liberties when things started to even out again for my people. This was one of the few things I allowed myself to acquire."

"So you stole it." I said.

"I merely gave it a new home," Len smiled. "It was not receiving the proper tuning and upkeep it deserved. Besides, as a boy this was perhaps my favorite thing about that silly show."

"Well this tears it, I'm becoming a superhero," I gunned the engine and we rode for a few more miles, "Have you given any thought as to what will happen when we catch up to those guys? Or, better yet what'll happen if we don't?"

"I'm afraid I've been as rash as the young men we're chasing, I was hoping perhaps that I could talk some sense into them. They're all good kids, really, fighting for something they don't exactly understand."

"Except Percy." I said.

"And Charles." Len supplied. "He knows everything I've told you two about Chiron. We were going to evacuate all of Halfblood, we have more than enough room, and they have enough resources and means to keep us fed properly. It would have been a symbiotic relationship."

"Chiron seems to be ruining everything."

"He's arrogant self-absorbed, intelligent, brilliant really, and worst of all charming." Leneus answered. As I listened to him talk I noticed the miles just slipping by, we were getting further and further away from Cloven territory, and the exit for Long Island was coming up, Halfblood wouldn't be too far now. I sighed and stepped harder on the gas and the car revved forward, the speedometer was dipping into triple digits. It hadn't been even a week since I'd escaped this place, and here we were again. It felt too soon, everything about the situation felt wrong. "I should have done more—there they are!"

When he pointed them out I saw them in almost the same second, they were the only other cars on the road. The pedal under my foot was now floored and the car zoomed, for a minute all thought of territory war, and disease, and the end of the world left my head as the air whipped so hard that it created a tunnel sound inside of the car, both my and Len's windows were rolled down. They couldn't outrun me, not now. They were in three separate SUVs, and though all three looked packed to the brim it was not nearly enough to take on all of the Ponies and Chiron, but I had a feeling they would do a lot of lasting damage if given the right incentive.

"I've got them." My voice surprised me, it was calm and my legs didn't feel like jelly as they had since I had been awoken from my illness induced slumber. The steering wheel felt like an extension of myself and I overtook all three cars. Only belatedly did I hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears, did I notice the whiteness of my knuckles and taste the bile rising in my throat. "Hold on." I told Len almost mechanically, adrenaline was coursing through my system like I had taken a shot of it straight to the head.

As I gained distance on the cars I yanked the wheel right, throwing the gears into a downward shift as I hit the brake. The desired effect was immediate, the tires of the Futura squealed leaving long, black marks about ten feet from where I'd slammed the brakes, smoke rose in the air along with the smell of burnt rubber. The car itself turned so that it was long ways on the narrow road, taking up a majority of it. There was no getting around us unless they drove carefully on the sidewalk, or unless they plowed straight through us.

"What should we do?" I asked Len, but for the first time since I had met him he was green in the face and did not look like he was capable of speech. "I'll give you a minute." I decided and the cars behind us came to a stop themselves just a few feet short from where my little stunt had ended.

I opened the door and stepped out, and the finally descended the horizon completely.

"Nico?" Someone—Percy—yelled from one of the cars. I located him, he was in the same large truck Charles had driven us in almost two days before. "Nico, you're okay!" The door opened and the next thing I knew arms were around me, his arms and I was being kissed and lifted into the air. A part of me, the part that wasn't pumped to the brim with adrenaline, wanted to melt into his arms. But a bigger part of me was boiling over with anger. Not the exact thing I thought I would feel when I laid eyes on him again as an able bodied person. I pushed out of his hold and landed squarely on my feet. Then I punched him in the face.

Not a good idea, my hand hurt like hell but the next second a bruise welled up on his right cheek. He was astonished, silenced and holding a hand up to his injured cheek.

"You fucking bastard!" I yelled, pushing him still. "You could have gotten yourself killed out here, goddamn it! What the fuck did you think you were going to do, bum rush Halfblood? Raze it to the ground, conquer Chiron and save everybody?" The look of confusion on his face was almost enough to break my tirade, he obviously did not understand the implications of his actions. "You fucking idiot!" I screamed still into the purpling twilight air, glaring up at him as he stared down at me with those soft eyes of his. "Not _only_ that, but did you even think about any of these other dufuses you have out here with them? You can't just uproot a whole goddamn community because you're seeking vengeance. Even if it's for me. You romantic dumb shit!"

I felt the color leave my cheeks, and when I took my next breath it was like all of my anger rushing out of me like so much water. The next emotion that hit me was also strange. A tugging grief at the thought of losing him. "You…fucking…idiot." The tears were escaping before I could stop them. Everything had been so rushed up until this point that I hadn't had a chance to feel, and now, with him standing in front of me, everything seemed to be hitting me like a ton of bricks.

Percy's arms wrapped around me, and I wanted to push away again but I collapsed into him, my legs now unable to support my body weight. There was no adrenaline in me now and the sickness that had been ravaging me body, creating hectic and chaotic temperatures inside of me, making me blackout and become a trapped consciousness was taking its toll, even cured.

There was laughter in my ear and I felt rage lick the insides of my stomach, what the fuck was Percy laughing about? Did he think this was a game? A joke? But the laughter quickly turned to sobbing. The sound in my ear now that of an injured animal, "I thought I lost you." His voice quivered. "I thought you were going to die."

"No faith in old men, I see," Len was finally out of the car. "You boys deal with yourselves, I'll send our little troupe back to the Empire State Building."

"I'm not leaving without Silena," Charlie stepped up from behind Percy, his face an impenetrable mask now. "He's the whole reason we even came this far, she only has a few hours left until she was supposed to meet me at the rendezvous point, but I'm here now. I'm pulling her out now, and there's not a damn thing any of you can do to stop me."

"Charles," Len's hand gripped Charlie's massive forearm.

"Leneus, I will break your shoulder." The threat was powerful and hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Len released him and Charlie shrugged away from him. "Are you still coming with me, or did you get what you came?" Charlie stared down at Percy, his eyes gleaming coals in the darkness. The hollows of his cheeks were outlined in the rising moon, his entire aura was burning with determination.

Percy looked at me and I knew his decision. He kissed me on the mouth, a hot, bruising sort of kiss that might have made me weak in the knees in any other situation, but not this one. I stood there, albeit it wobbily, and not from the kiss, and I stared back at him.

"You can't." I said, but my voice was too small. Too inconsequential.

"I promised." He replied, and now he wouldn't meet my eyes. I just wanted him to look up. So much had happened in the past thirty-six hours and I just wanted him to look up. When he did his eyes were so blue. Not hazel, not aquamarine, but true blue.

I bit my lip, a scream bubbled inside of me. "You can't go back in there! We got out! We escaped! They tried to _kill_ us, Percy," But still, no matter how desperate I felt he just hugged me tighter. He kissed the top of my head, running his hand idly through my hair.

"I love you so much, Nico." He said and I felt my body growing numb.

"You're not leaving me." I told him. "Fuck that shit, Percy Jackson. After everything I've been through with you, do you remember Wyoming? Denver? What about Florida? I know you remember Florida. What we did there cemented me to you, Percy. You can't go this alone, you cannot, and for the love of Christ stop looking at me like that, you cannot leave me. Not again. You were going to throw your life away looking for revenge for me, well if you're still gung ho about rushing into an armed camp with sentries posted just about every fucking where then you bet your sweet ass I am coming with you."

"Nico—"

"When have you ever gotten your way when I put my foot down, Percy?" I bulldozed him with a look. "We either do this together, or not at all."

"Nico, my boy," Leneus chimed in, "not that that wasn't a rousing talk, really. But, you still run the risk of exposing us all. Not to mention that this was the exact opposite agreed upon tactic, we were supposed to bring these boys home."

"Take them home," I told him. "These two and me, we're staying though."

"Are you sure you can handle this, Nico?" Charlie asked.

"Anything to get Silena and anyone else we can out." I replied, he and I locked eyes for a moment. The understanding between us was now a palpable thing. He could either do this with me or he would also lose his partner Percy.

"Fuck yeah, then." He clasped my shoulder hard, I did not wince under the pain, I just stared back up at him.

"We ain't leaving," I looked behind me, the young people escorting Percy and Charlie had the same determination set in their eyes. A girl who was shorter than I was stepped up, her skin was darker than Charlie's and her eyes were almost gold. Her hair was pulled into a frizzy afro-ponytail but the gun she had slung across her shoulder was as menacing as fear itself. "I don't think we've properly met," She said, "I'm Hazel, Hazel Levesque, and I'm about to shoot a whole lot of people." There were sounds of agreement behind her. "See, we're not going to trek all the way from Manhattan to Long Island just to turn around, and we're definitely not gonna let what Chiron's been doing continue."

Leneus shook his head, "Hazel, you cannot match them strength for brute strength. We just don't have the numbers, and they are more skilled than any of you. Chiron took in ex-military for a reason."

"Some of us are ex-military," A new girl stepped up.

"Reyna—" But she cut Len off.

"Hand-to-hand combat specialist, or did you forget, Leneus?" She raised her eyebrow just a centimeter and I could feel Leneus's resolve crumble underneath him.

"You are all throwing your lives away!" He said. "Have I not been like a father to you? I have tried! A grandfather at least, I do not want you all to have lived through such a travesty only to end everything in a final coup. Please, children, think."

But Hazel smiled, and the moon seemed to shine especially bright when she did giving her a macabre look. "What's the point of living if you don't have something worth dying for?" She asked.

Leneus looked at me, concern and disappointment heavy on his brow. He did look so grandfatherly, but I couldn't let Percy go without me. I had thrown my lot in with the revolutionaries and he had not planned on that. He thought between Percy and I that I was the more level-headed one, but he had mistaken my calm demeanor for cold logic. When it came to Percy though, no matter what, I would always do the illogical thing if it meant being with him.

Finally he nodded, "I see." He said, and any thought I ever had of him being like Chiron fell away. Chiron would have stamped and pleaded and weaseled and lied to have his way, but Leneus knew that there was no other way but the one already chosen. "But you should all know, your enemy is a fearless man. Not out of any born leadership or bravery, but out of insanity. He does not fear death or pain, he may feign it to lull you into a false sense of security, but he will not stop at any cost to destroy each and every one of you in a different and demented way. I have tried my damndest to protect you, my family, from him and his kind, but you still rise up to face him.

I can't send you in there with my blessing, but I want you each one of you to know that I love you as only a parent can." His eyes fell on mine and I had no way of disputing what he had just said. "I have known you all a varying degree of time, but anyone under my tutelage is loved. So go with that knowledge, and remember that I want you all back before the sunsets tomorrow."

The chant began somewhere in the middle of us and radiated outward, "Len-e-us." We chanted. "Len-e-us. Len-e-us! Leneus! Leneus! LENEUS!" And it grew louder and louder until it was a mantra, and we kept shouting it until it didn't even sound like a name anymore, and I got so swept up in it that I didn't even care that I was shouting too. By the time it died down tears were streaming down Len's face. He hugged and kissed all of us, his frail, old body was warm and smelled of aftershave and peppermint. Then he turned and walked to the Futura, glancing again proudly at our face.

"Remember." He said. "Sunset. You all have a curfew, war be damned." And then he was speeding off in the Batmobile. It didn't occur to me that it was going to be the last time I saw him alive, it didn't occur to me that he had slipped a handgun into my grip, but when he had hugged me I heard him and as he drove away his words were like an echo in my head, ' _Be safe, my son. You may not be successful, but please come back alive._ '

What did occur to me is how great of a man he was. How much the desire to live to his age burned inside of me. I looked at Hazel and Reyna, then I looked at Percy and Charlie, I looked at the others as well. There were twelve of us counting me. Could we do this? I don't know, but we had to try.

We climbed into the SUVs still a few miles away from Halfblood. I sat in Percy's lap with his arms around me. We didn't speak, there were no last words to be exchanged. He thought he had lost me once before and had resolved himself to this, now he had me and it was our burden to bear. Regardless of what happened he knew I loved him with everything that made me who I was, he knew that there was no deeper love in the entire universe than what I had for him, and I knew he felt the same way about me.

His arms squeezed me and the gun in my hand felt heavy.

I have been awake for almost an hour and a half, have only just been able to stand on my feet properly for half of that, and now I was marching to war.

Funny old world, isn't it?


	21. Chapter 21

**Coding and Codeine**

 **Chapter Twenty-One:** War

It was dark when we pulled up outside of Camp Halfblood, still half a mile out. The cars would have been too loud, the guards posted on duty would have heard the engine. In true Cloven fashion the twelve of us fanned out through the woods, four taking the left side, four up the middle, and four on the right circling around. They were soundless as they walked, which was a testament to how many times they'd snuck into Halfblood. I had to make a conscious effort to walk quickly and watch for branches, which was a difficult enough task considering the trees over head were obscuring the moonlight now.

This was both a blessing and a disguise, I guess. It meant it made it harder for us to be seen, but at the same time it wasn't doing us any favors either because we couldn't see where we were going either.

A twig snapped. I looked down under my shoe, but it hadn't been me who stepped on it. Our group of four whirled around. A woman was standing behind us, her gun pointed but she quickly turned it away. I recognized her as she gave the universal sign of being quiet, placing her index finger in front of her mouth. Percy held his hand up and the other two lowered their weapons but I had never raised mine in the first place.

"Zoe," He whispered.

"Jackson, di Angelo," Her voice was hushed but I could hear the smile in it. "I knew you two would be back."

"Zoe we don't have a lot of time," Percy said stepping forward to talk more closely with her. I had to strain to hear. "We're here to get everyone who will leave out of camp. Chiron has been lying to us the whole time, about everything. I wish I could explain it all, but we need your help."

"Perce, since you've been gone everything has gone to shit. Everyone's divided, even us Ponies. No one's said anything out loud, of course, but you two were good people. A lot of us don't believe that you would just turn traitor like that." She looked over Percy's shoulder directly at me, and even in the darkness her eyes were shining. "It didn't make sense, and it all happened too fast."

"Who's on our side?" Percy asked, she quickly gave him a list of names.

"Most of them are on patrol tonight but if they see you with these Cloven they won't question it a second longer, I'll make some rounds and tell the others to let you guys through, when you hear the signal you can keep going into camp, Chiron's been keeping the Ponies closer to the Pavilion Center lately so it shouldn't be too hard to sneak through." Zoe turned but Percy grabbed her by the arm.

"Thank you, Zo. Be careful." He said lowly, she grinned.

"More careful than you could ever be," And with that she was off. Michael and Bobby, the two others that made up our group were at Percy's side almost immediately.

"Who was she?" Bobby asked, from what I could see in his face he was lovestruck.

"I'd be careful of her if I was you," Percy smirked, "she's tougher than I am and she'd beat you to a pulp just as soon as kiss you."

Michael piped in, "She could beat me any day." After that the tension in the air seemed to break, we were alert but at least for me there wasn't so much fear. I wasn't ready to die, but if I died here tonight, fighting Chiron with Percy at my side nothing would have felt like a sacrifice.

We waited for fifteen minutes when a rather loud owl hooted three times in rapid succession, there were answering calls all around, not sounding one hundred percent animalistic. Percy pushed off the tree he was leaning on and nodded us forward silently. We followed behind him until the line of trees broke.

The familiarity of everything nearly choked me. We had only been gone for a little while, less than two days, but the time I had been unconscious made it feel like an eternity. For just a second I wanted to take Percy by the hand and drag him back to our cabin, I wanted to crawl into our bed and hold him until the sun came up. I could forgive Chiron, he had just been protecting himself. This desire blossomed in my chest like a weed, undermining the entire operation at hand we had here. I pushed it down.

Percy turned to us, "Okay, we'll go around and empty the cabins, we want to get everyone out of here as soon as possible before the bullets start flying." His eyes caught on me for a second.

"Don't you even think about it." I said. "I'm staying here with you." I saw his Adam's apple bob down and back up again as he swallowed some words I would have shot down. He just nodded, looked at me for a second longer with so much smothered passion in his eyes. I couldn't keep his gaze, I looked away.

"Will you two stop eye fucking and go? We don't have this kind of time." Michael was smirking and I rolled my eyes.

Percy punched Michael playfully, "Whatever, you fall in love one day and you'll understand." He looked around, lowering his voice more. "Charlie should be taking care of the girls' cabin right about now, which means we should start emptying out this side."

"Where are we going to send them anyway?" Bobby asked.

"There's a bus big enough to house almost most everyone, all the civilians anyway, there are just as many Party Ponies here, and their the ones I'm worried about. Chiron seems to have placed the bulk of them around the rec. center like Zoe said, there hasn't been a sentry through here the entire time we've been talking. He's protecting his lab for some reason."

"We'll find that out before we put a bullet in his brain," Michael replied, Percy nodded; ruthless.

"Alright then, let's go." He held his gun aloft and motioned us along again. We cleared two out successfully before the first hitch, everyone seemed to elated to see Percy—and even me. People were, of course, surprised but it was as if they had all been holding out hope that we would come back.

"Percy!" Carter said jumping out of bed, they slapped hands and he hugged me, then pulled back awkwardly after realizing what he'd done. He cleared his throat, "I mean, uh, what's going on?"

"Jailbreak," Bobby answered. Percy quickly told him that things weren't what they appeared, and that Carter should run with the others.

"Ha, yeah, that'll happen." Carter laughed as he pulled on pants. "I'm coming with you guys. Will'll look after Sadie for me, but you can't leave without me."

"Carter, buddy, look there's a lot of shit going on, we don't—"

"Have time to argue, which is exactly why I'm going."

"Carter—"

"No time to argue," Carter smiled, he reached underneath his pillow and pulled up a handgun. "Let's go." Percy huffed, but conceded. If Carter wanting to come along was the toughest thing we'd have to endure I would happily have even brought Drew with us.

"Things have been bad around here, man," Carter said as we left his cabin and snuck around to the next one.

"Zoe told us it was shitty," I said, piping up for the first time.

"Did she tell you that Chiron cut food rations, he's claiming that there's a shortage all of a sudden. I've eaten once since you guys left. Not only that but everyone's working around the clock all the way up till curfew, there is no free time. Oh, and curfew is six now."

"Six?" I asked.

"Yup, enforced with guns, if you're found out of your cabin after six you get taken to the storm bunker. I don't know what happens down there but Nathan Little got taken down there when he got caught sneaking out of his girlfriend's cabin and came back up with a broken arm and a black eye. We've even got bathroom and shower escorts now."

"No wonder people have started to rethink their opinion on him," Percy said.

"Yeah, he's had this crazed look in his eye since you guys left, and we never see him, but when we do he just stands outside on his balcony, just staring. It's creepy. Sadie and I were going to start investigating tomorrow."

"That's a sure fire way to get killed," Percy grinned.

"Hey, this place needed a leader since you left." Carter returned the smile and bumped Percy's shoulder with his own. We opened the next cabin. Men were inside, all of them awake. They must have been waiting to change out shifts with the guards patrolling the woods. Their eyes were alert and on us the second the door was opened. I knew them, of course I knew them, they were all Party Ponies. Patrick, Ashton, Erik, Darrin, and Lamont. I didn't talk to a lot of the Party Ponies but I at least knew their names. Silence hung in the air for a half a second.

"Percy Jackson." Ashton stood, Percy leveled his gun on him. I'm going to go ahead and guess these guys weren't on our side. The next thing I knew there were five guns trained on us as well, the sound of them being loaded took place of the previous silence, bullets finding chambers. Ashton laughed, he was a big man, like most of the Ponies. His bald head wrinkled as he smiled, his eyes were cruel and he stepped forward. "What the fuck do you think you're doing back here? Didn't running away like a little bitch teach you not to come back?"

"Look," Percy said calmly. "this doesn't have to end with everyone dead."

"Ponies are for life, Jackson. You knew that when we let you join, no matter what you put your brothers-in-arms over everything else." That felt like at dig at me but I kept my mouth shut, there was a reason I never hung around Ashton. He didn't always seem the sanest, but Percy's mouth was set in a thin line.

"You don't know what's going on." He said, his voice steel.

"What? Don't know that Chiron was the one who engineered and released The Mist? Or don't know that the Cloven are just little boys who wet themselves with fear when they think about how much military power we have here? Percy, you little shit, Chiron told us. He would never keep secrets from us, we're like his family."

"He killed his son." I nearly growled, frustrated by the fact that this idiot knew all of this but was staying anyway, "What makes you think you or your little peons are worth anything to him if he could do something like that?"

But Ashton didn't miss a beat, "Evian was like you, Nico. I remember him," He said. "A kid pretending to be an adult. He was preaching peace, trying to usurp his dad's hold on this place, like you guys are doing right now, he had to be taken care of." Ashton raised his gun, "Say hi to him for me, will you?"

I had never heard a burst shot before, in real life anyway, but I was standing so close to Percy that my ears were ringing when it was done. There were several flashes of light, thunderous pops, and then quiet. His rifle was still smoking when the bodies hit the floor. "Shit." Bobby said, whistling low. "I don't know what the fuck that was, but I liked it."

Percy stood to his full height, wiping his brow. "Yeah, those guys were dicks anyway."

I still wasn't sure what happened, but Carter's laugh was in my other ear, the one that wasn't ringing. "I didn't know you could shoot like that! I mean, it's really a shame those guys are dead, but—"

"They're not dead," Percy replied, and a groan chorused from the cabin. "Just shot in the legs and shoulders."

"That was fucking awesome!" Michael piped up.

"Percy!" We turned, guns poised and ready now for anything. Charlie was standing there, eight others standing behind him. "You guys are going to alert the whole fucking camp! Chiron must know we're here now."

"We knew we couldn't leave without dealing with him anyway," Percy answered.

"The element of surprise is a new concept to you, isn't it?" Hazel asked as we merged groups.

"Can we not comment on how I just shot down five dudes who were about to kill us and focus on the task at hand?" Percy asked. It occurred to me that I just watched people getting shot for the first time in real life, and I think I should have been more concerned that it wasn't bothering me than I was. But I couldn't bring myself to care about it. "Are all the cabins clear?"

"There were a few people who refused to leave, but yeah," Reyna answered. "Your friend Zoe is rather resourceful, all of your friends we've run into so far. People seem to like you two."

"They do," Carter smirked.

"Thanks," But Percy wasn't looking for praise, "Did you find Silena?" Charlie's huge fist tightened on his gun, he didn't answer. "She's probably with Chiron then, from what I've gathered he's been keeping his best people close."

Charlie and Percy locked eyes for a second, then Charlie nodded. "Alright, do you have a plan?"

"Chiron is held up in the Pavilion House," Percy said, "We can assume he is surrounded by his better shooters, which means the people on the outer perimeter of the building shouldn't be too hard to take down. We'll have to find a way down to him."

"Yo, Jackson!" Zoe and a few others were walking towards us.

"Stand down!" Charlie growled when one or two of our guys turned their guns on them. Zoe was still smiling.

"You run these boys well, Charlie." She laughed. "And I can't help but overhear that you want to cause a little confusion over at the rec. house. Ethan and I think we can do that."

Ethan Nakamura grinned beside her, looking handsome but tired.

"How do you propose you do that?" Percy asked.

"It'll be hard for them to do much of anything with two snipers taking them out left and right, we just have to go position ourselves." Ethan answered.

Percy nodded, "Cool, alright. I still haven't figured out what he's hiding in his lab."

I looked around; we had gone from twelve to twenty. Each face looked grim, every arm had a gun and the bloodshed hadn't even really started yet. I was so different than each of these people, they were ready to kill to overcome, and I had never fired a gun before. I sighed. This all had to end soon, Chiron's craziness, our running, everything.

"I know what he's got down there." I said. All eyes landed on me but I looked at Percy. "You do too, and so does Charlie. You all know what it is, if you just think about it." I stared at them, every eye color and skin color imaginable surrounded me. Height difference, different noses, different mouths, but we were all the same.

We all just wanted to live without fear and to love without regret.

"The Mist." Someone said, voicing the answer I knew they had all come to. "But how?"

I looked, it was Charlie that has spoken, "There's someone you guys at the Cloven camp have been missing: Maron." One of the Cloven girls gasped. "Chiron has him, and he's hosting the disease inside of his body. It's…" I swallowed. "it's not pretty."

Percy came up behind me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, I let him hug me to him as I relieved my time spent cowering before Chiron. "That means we have to take extra precaution. Regardless of if you eliminate every last guard he has Chiron is still armed and dangerous."

"Let's get to it then," Charlie said. "If he has Silena with him and he's got that shit all around her I need this shit to be over. Like now." That seemed to be what everyone needed to put them into gear.

"Wait." I said, stopping them. I don't know if it was sentimentality or just the fact that I felt this new camaraderie deep in my bones now but I needed something else. "I don't know all of you. I don't want to do this unless I know each and everyone one of you. So please when I point to you please tell me your name." No one argued with me, or even looked like they wanted to. They understood, these people all understood me. I pointed to myself, "Nico." Then I began pointing at them.

"Charlie,"

"Michael,"

"Hazel,"

"Carter,"

"Zoe,"

"Bobby,"

"Reyna,"

"Ethan,"

"Frank,"

" Leo,"

"Laurel,"

"Ben,"

"Keto,"

"Alabaster,"

"Kayla,"

"Steven,"

"Buford,"

"Clarisse," My finger faltered. I had looked each one in the eye but this last one was the hardest. He grabbed my hand, finger still pointed, and placed it against his chest. We locked eyes and I knew there were tears falling down my cheeks. I knew we were marching to our death now. The easiest part of it had been evacuating the camp, and that had gone off almost without a hitch. It had all been too easy and that was because this next part was where we all died. But he smiled at me. He smiled at me like he had smiled the first time we saw each other. So big and beautiful that all his teeth were showing.

"Percy." He said.

My hands itched to wrap around him. My body yearned to be held against his. Everything in me was attracted to him like a magnet. But I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. I drew my hand back though it shook, the compulsion to hold on almost too strong, and I cocked my gun.

We walked.

Zoe and Ethan were in the trees, and when I heard the first shot I knew chaos. Chiron's men were firing now, but we were on the other side of camp, nowhere near them. We could tell the difference between our people and Chiron's people's attacks because Zoe and Ethan took measured aim while the others were in bursts and sounded like they were coming from everywhere.

Percy's hand had found mine; his was dry and warm, and mine sweat filled and clammy. More and more the gunfire was dying down, but I flinched when I heard a scream pierce the air. Percy gripped my hand tighter and then there was a rapid succession of shots, shots that sounded like they belonged to our people. Not crazed, fire everywhere shots but precise, expert firing.

Then there was the owl hooting we had heard in the woods. We answered back as a group and we moved as one body. By the time we got to the rec. center my heart sunk into my stomach. Zoe was leaning heavily on her sniper rifle, the front of her shirt was soaked a darker black than the fabric the shirt was originally and I knew it was blood even without looking her in the face.

Her skin was normally pale, but she was like a beam of moonlight now, I could see the veins throbbing in her temple and her cheeks were splattered with blood, whether it was her own or not I couldn't tell. Her expression was drawn with pain and when she saw us she collapsed to her knees. When we reached her someone tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she batted them away.

"They got Ethan." She said. "I'll be okay, but they pulled him out of the tree and they shot him in the head." She took a shaky breath. "I just wish—" Then her face blanched and she collapsed. Reyna took her pulse, proclaimed she was still alive, if only just, and we had to continue. Just like that we were down to eighteen, but Zoe and Ethan's efforts weren't for not. The ground was littered with bodies; too many to count but way more than we could have taken by ourselves head on. Familiar faces stared up at me with dead eyes and again I knew it should have bothered me, but I simply looked away. Charlie hid Zoe's body in the tall grass, we would have to come back for her.

Before he was even standing again the door to the rec. center burst open and again the sound of gunfire. Maybe it was the panic that tasted like acid in my throat but I was the first to raise my weapon, I was the first to fire back. A scream bubbled out of me, a war cry, a wounded animal, and then all around me my friends were firing too.

I saw blood arc high into the air, I heard a body hit the ground, but I just kept firing.

When my gun ran out of bullets I was not scared. There was a surplus of other firearms on the ground. Everything in me shut down. I was on autopilot. I picked up a rifle, held the butt to my shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Immediately I knew why people fired in bursts as I had heard. The rifle kicked like a mule in my hands with every bullet that left it, but eventually I got the hang of it. I was sure my shoulder was bruised to hell, but that wasn't going to be my worst injury.

It didn't matter if I hit anyone I was just returning fire. But I was though. I was I was hitting a lot of people, but all I could see was red. Left and right my friends were falling like I knew they would. This was a battle in the making for a long time. There was a predestined feel to it. My rifle clicked empty and I picked up another gun, this one was smaller and I had to pull a hammer back to load it, but it shot fast and it shot hard.

Belatedly I registered a pain in my side, and there was blood running down my temple but I just kept shooting as they kept pouring out of the rec. center. We advanced forward without a word, we pushed them back. For every weapon I emptied there was always another one just in front of me.

Something tagged me in the arm, and pain like fire ripped down my shoulder. I screamed and squeezed the trigger harder, my body was shaking and tears were streaming out of my eyes. I felt sick, but the sickness felt like an echo, something heard but barely there, just like the pain.

We pushed forward.

We were inside of the rec. center now, and if I had to count I'd say there were ten of us. Ten bodies pressed tightly together. I wanted to look for Percy but my semi-automatic clicked empty. Electricity was jolting down my arm as I reached for another gun. Bullet casings laid around us in the hundreds. Someone to my left got shot in the head, the blood splattered against my neck, it was warm and smelled like iron.

We pushed forward.

More and more we mowed down Chiron's forces, so many men and women, many of whom I had only seen once or twice. The guns blazed, and the shells fell until it became a routine. Fire. Empty clip. Grab a new gun. Repeat.

It wasn't until I was hit directly in the ribs did I go down. The bullet entered and exited cleanly, a through and through, and I knew it had broken one of my ribs. Pain like I had never known before exploded from that area. White, hot, searing pain that even adrenaline couldn't make me ignore. I was bleeding profusely.

Then the face of an angel was staring at me. He was so concerned. I reached up and touched his cheek to tell him not to worry about me, that angels shouldn't look so sad but my fingers streaked red against his face. He was saying something but my ears were ringing and I couldn't hear.

He was shouting now, but he was beautiful when he looked this upset. "Nico!" Someone slapped my face and I jolted back into full consciousness. My angel Percy had tears making tracks down his blood smeared face but he looked otherwise alright.

"I'm okay." I croaked but he still held on to me, I could have fallen asleep like that. I felt so warm. Someone was tying a tight bandage around my chest, binding my wound. Then another around my shoulder, my arm, my thigh, I was going to be a holey man if I got out of this alive. The others were attending to themselves now. A bullet had grazed Charlie's scalp, but hadn't done any major damage after all the blood was wiped away. The bandages, as it turns out, were strips of everyone's clothing. "Who's left?" I asked no one in particular, the firing seemed to be ceased for the moment.

"You, Percy, me, Hazel, Leo, Frank, and Reyna." Charlie answered.

I think it was hysterics but a laugh pushed its way out of my throat, "And then there were seven."

"I'm not dead!" Someone groaned across the hall. Percy sat me up and I watched Charlie pull Carter out from underneath a pile of bodies. Carter held his left arm against his body as if it were injured, but he could walk on his own.

"You're not dead, kudos. Zia would have killed you if you died." Percy smirked grimly.

Carter winced a smile and laughed, "Yeah, she would have pulled my ass out of the underworld to send me back down there again." They helped me to my feet, whereupon I threw an arm over Percy's shoulder so he could help me stand. Everyone left was bandaged and guns were reloaded.

We pushed forward.

When the vending machine was moved out of the way I insisted on being the first one down the stairs, but since I couldn't walk by myself without my knees buckling no one gave me much thought. Reyna walked down first, her handgun held out in front of her, we followed.

The stairs were just as narrow and winding as I remembered them, the staircase as dimly lit, but it felt like eons since I had been here. The air was damp and hot and we finally all stood at the bottom of the stairs. But what we found down there was not what we expected. A computer screen was flickering in the darkness, the words "PLAY ME" staring back at us.

Someone found the light switch and my jaw almost fell from its socket. Behind the barrier where I remembered Maron lying still and half dead was Silena. She stood there by herself, hugging her arms around her waist looking morose and abused. The purpling bruise under her left eye said that much. Her clothes were in tatters, and her hair was a nest on top of her head and it hurt seeing her like that when she was normally so impeccably dressed. It hurt not seeing that brilliant smile on her face, and instead seeing that her bottom lip was split. Charlie was the first one to the plastic but her mouth flew open before he could do anything.

"NO!" She screeched. Charlie's hands faltered at the zipper. "Charlie Bear, don't open that. You'll kill everyone on that side." A smile trembled on her lips as her eyes took in Charlie and she put a hand against the plastic. "Hi, baby." She cried.

"Silena." Charlie's voice wasn't there, not really. It was the whisper of a broken man.

"I've got The Mist, Charlie Bear." She said. "Not the one he gave Nico, the first one. The bad one." Her whole body was shaking visibly even from where I was standing, her hair fell in front of her face like a yellow curtain trying to shield her expression from our view, but I saw it. Despair; complete and utter despair. We had come this far only to fail. "He found me out, the day after you left he found me preparing to head to the rendezvous point, I was going to sneak out early. I was going to come see you." Her fingers curled into her palms. "I was so stupid. I'm sorry." She fell to her knees and I saw her break. "I'm so sorry."

Charlie grabbed the zipper. "Percy." He said. "Take that laptop and get out of here. Don't come back for us."

"Charlie, no!" Silena sobbed.

"Percy, do it goddamn it!" His voice cracked. It was the first time I'd ever heard his deep baritone ever crack. Percy handed me to Frank, who was a big, stocky guy and could hold me up easily. I leaned against him as Percy grabbed the laptop and handed it to Leo, then he walked over to Charlie and Silena. He said something to them, it was quiet but it was enough to make Charlie stand up and hug him. They hugged deeply, embracing more like brothers than friends and I watched tears streak down Charlie's cheeks. He kissed Percy's forehead and then they parted.

"Come on." Percy said taking the stairs. Chiron wasn't here. We would check his cabin but I knew he wouldn't be in there either. He had run when he discovered Silena. He was a smart man, on top of everything else, and there was no doubt that he would have beefed up security just to toy with us.

I couldn't leave them though, not like that. Frank picked me up and put me carefully on his shoulder. "Silena, Charlie." They both glanced at me. "I'm sorry." It didn't feel like enough, but Silena shook her head.

"Nico, we love you." She said and I felt my eyes prickle.

"Good-bye, Nico." Charlie said. Frank walked up the stairs and sat me down so he could help Percy push the machine back in front of entrance to the lab.

"Where was he?" Leo asked, it was our first real interaction.

"He ran, obviously." I replied, wiping at my eyes but unable to stop the tears.

"Play the video." Hazel said. We did. The video opened with Chiron's face, he had aged severely since we left. There were bags under his eyes and deep wrinkles lined around his mouth and grooved into his forehead.

"Percy, Charles, I'm glad you two could return." He began. "If you've noticed I am not here, currently. Don't fret, I'm not far. You see, Maron has finally taken the hint and is showing me the location Leneus has refused to disclose to me. We're leaving at or around the time Charles and Silena were supposed to meet one another. Did you really think you could fool me, Charlie? For your insolence and for hers I've injected your lovely girlfriend with something special. The very last of the first strand of Mystoplednia, there was just enough to keep her alive so you two could have another few hours together. Don't say I was never kind.

Perseus, if you've come looking for a cure for your boyfriend that's because Leneus is an inept old man who never truly understood my work. I regret to inform you that there is no cure that I have manufactured yet. You see you're both too late. You tried to turn my people on me, but really you just jumpstarted something that was in the progress long before either of you could toddle. Both of your loved ones will die, simply because you asked too many questions. I did love Silena and Nico, but they were both under your care and the most substantial things I could kill that would break you.

By the time you hear this message, if you hear it by some grace of the gods, I will be most likely pulling up to the Empire State Building, and I will be exacting my revenge upon Leneus. I would sincerely like to thank you boys, you made all of this possible. Good-bye, boys."

Then Chiron must have programmed a kill code into the computer because it fried. The screen went black and would not come back on.

"We've got to get back!" Hazel shouted.

"What's the point? Like two of us can stand, there's no way we can beat him there." Leo replied.

"We have still got to try." Percy came over to me. "I can't leave you yet, can I?" He asked, I shook my head. "Anyone who's still willing to fight can come with me. I'll understand if you're tired, but I can't sit idly by while a crazy man is still on the loose."

"Lead on then, boss man." Frank said. Percy picked me up and we on the move again.


	22. Chapter 22

**Coding and Codeine**

 **Chapter Twenty-Two:** The Final Confrontation

It was only fitting that the sun was coming up. Only fitting that Camp Halfblood, the place that I had come to call home, had come to love and cherish as a sacred place, was covered in blood and bodies and bullets. It looked like a war torn country from some old film, it looked surreal, _unreal_. There was hardly a hint to the feeling of home and hearth I'd felt here before.

The cabins loomed in front of us big and ominous, black shadows in the rising sun, and I felt like openly weeping. Some of us _were_ openly weeping. Leo was doing his best to hold Frank close to him, the big guy towered over the shorter boy, though, and I found I couldn't watch them much longer.

Percy was carrying me bridal style, and my usually talkative boyfriend was uncharacteristically silent. I stared at him because in this place where everything was broken I just really needed to. I stared, but what I saw worried me a little. His brows were drawn together in concentration, and a thin sheen of sweat had gathered on his forehead. He looked hurt. "Are you okay?" I asked quietly, though my words seemed to echo in the silent and dead air. Percy looked down at me with a tired sort of compassion, as if I was the most important thing in the world. My heart melted a little, like it always did when he looked at me.

"I got flagged in the leg," He said nonchalantly. "Nothing too serious."

He was such a dumbass sometimes, "Percy, pass me off to someone else if you're hurt!"

"Nico, I got it." He replied, I crossed my arms in agitation.

"Percy, I can—" But he shot Reyna a look that stopped her cold, which was probably a difficult thing to do considering the girl had more muscles than I did.

"No." Percy said, his voice low and upset. "I can carry my fucking boyfriend. Nico I don't want to argue about this, my leg doesn't hurt that bad and you can't walk so shut up." I stared at him again, because really there was nothing more in this world that I wanted to do than just look at him. To just watch him smile, watch him laugh, watch him age with me. I stared because I knew where this possessiveness was coming from. I felt it under my skin, bubbling there like it had replaced my blood. He had lost everything else, and all he wanted to do was hold me.

I was the one thing he had left.

We didn't have time for it, I know we didn't. People's lives were in danger, Chiron—who was an established maniac was on the loose, but I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my arms around his neck and I pulled him into a bruising kiss. I felt my lips split and bleed but that didn't stop me from deepening. Even when my face was wet and I wasn't sure if it was Percy crying or if it was me crying, I just kissed harder.

"I don't want to end up like Charlie and Silena." Percy sobbed in my ear when he finally pulled back. "I don't want Chiron to ever touch you again, do you understand me? I don't want you to leave my sight the whole time." All I could do was nod because I didn't trust my voice.

No one offered to carry me, even when Percy's limp got worse.

We eventually made it back to the vans, but it only made me grow sadder. Our entire party could fit in one van now. Reyna sat in the driver's seat with no protest from anyone, Hazel took passenger. Frank and Leo sat in the two seats behind them and myself, Percy, and Carter sat in the back.

We rode back in silence, though Carter did pat me on the shoulder once. He gave me a ghost of a smile that reminded me so much of just a few weeks, hell, just a few days back before everything went to shit. I don't think he expected me to look away and cry more. Out of my peripheral vision I saw him look at Percy and the next thing I knew I was being carefully scooped up.

My ribs hurt, my leg hurt, my temple hurt, basically everywhere I'd been shot or grazed had turned into one huge throb, but being pulled—no, sucked into Percy's everlasting warmth made me almost forget about that all.

I remember crying on his shoulder for a while, and I think I heard Hazel crying in the front and I'm pretty sure Frank was consoling her, but I couldn't worry about them, or about anyone else. We had been worrying about people since we'd arrived at Camp Halfblood and it might have sounded but I just wanted to back with Percy, alone, on the beach. I wanted to feel his chest against my back and the sand against my legs, and the waves lap at my toes.

But I couldn't be selfish. Not now, not anymore. There were people I cared about, maybe not loved like I loved Percy but there were bonds now, there were friends to worry about, there were things that could not be forgiven and Chiron was going to pay for each and every last one of them.

\

When we arrived at the hideout I knew there was something wrong immediately. There was a black sedan parked on the curb next to the steps that led up into the building, black tire streaks on the road and sidewalk marking the immediate stop that must have been made. The air still smelled of burning rubber, we couldn't have been very far behind Chiron.

"Oh, shit." I heard Reyna say, the next thing I knew she was out of the car. We followed behind her as quickly as was possible. I was the only one who couldn't really stand on his own but everyone else seemed to be just as worse for the wear. Leo was still cradling his arm to his chest, the bandages on it appeared as if they had been bled through, Frank appeared fine for the most part, a few scrapes and bruises. Percy and Carter were limping, and aside from the crying and the dark purple bruise on her cheek Hazel seemed sound as well. Reyna, though, gave no indication of being as hurt as everyone else, though I could see a nasty cut through the left side of her shirt.

"What is it?" Percy asked holding me against his chest like a husband might do to carry his bride over the threshold.

"It's Maron." Reyna said standing beside Chiron's car. "Chiron must have decided he was no longer of any use because he's been shot."

"Is he…" But Hazel didn't finish the sentence, one curt nod from Reyna told us everything we needed to know. It wasn't surprising, and I had never known Maron personally, but I couldn't help at the guilt and pain I felt on top of the already Atlas sized pain I was feeling.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Frank sobbed staring at the poor man in the car.

"That's not all," Reyna replied stoically, she pointed. I followed her finger and my eyes came to a blood trail, it led inside of the building.

"Do we follow that?" Leo asked, "I don't usually follow ominous shit like that."

"We have to." Percy said grimly, and with me in hand he began walking forward. The door had been basically shot to hell and was barely hanging on by a hinge so we just made our way right on in. I heard someone gasp, and before I could look Percy's hand was over my eyes. "You don't want to see this, Nico." He said, his voice was strained and hoarse.

I don't know if I could take another death. "Who is it?" I wondered aloud, my own voice sounding frail and unsure in my own ears.

"It's Janus." Percy replied lowly. He was right, I didn't want to look. I didn't want to see.

"He's still alive!" Frank exclaimed, I moved Percy's hand away from my eyes. Immediately I wished I hadn't. Janus was slumped against the lobby wall, his suit shabby as always, his hair salt-and-pepper, and a small, lopsided grin was on his face. The thing that made it horrific was that the wall he was leaning against was painted red with his blood, the shabby suit was blasted full of holes and I could see his organs though his bloody hands were doing their best to hold them in. He was pale, paler than I had ever seen him, but his eyes, for the first time since I had seen him they seemed to be unfocused.

Those mitch-matched eyes found my face and his smile grew wider. He opened his mouth and I knew the strangled sound that erupted into the air was me holding myself back from sobbing again.

"N-Nico, my boy. So glad to see you again, one last time. You never did answer my last riddle and this may just be my last rhyme." I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I just wanted Percy to cover my eyes again, to make the feeling of the knives embedded in my heart to go away. They were filleting my heart, peeling back layer by bloody fucking layer.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to jump out of Percy's arm and find Chiron and rip his motherfucking throat right out of his smug fucking neck.

"Nico." Janus said again and I blinked, his gaze had never left my face. "I am a voice that has no home, I am a chill straight to the bone, I am a roar I am a moan, what am I?" I just wished he wouldn't fucking smile like that, his pale face covered in so much red.

I burped, feeling the bile rising in my throat and I swallowed it back down. The taste of acid in my mouth only fueling my need to lash out. "Wind." I said after a second, my eyes stinging and hot. "It's wind, Janus." I could feel my lips trembling, hell, my whole body was a tremor.

"How right you are, my son." He wheezed a laugh that ended in him coughing blood. But, then he had the fucking gall to look proud and I just hurt so much. I just wanted it all to end. Wasn't this enough torture? Hadn't I suffered enough? "One of my riddles you've finally w…" And then he stopped speaking. The sound of air leaving what was left of his lung indicated that he would speak no more. Laugh no more. No more riddles, or pestering people in the lobby.

Maron I didn't know, and I felt bad for his death, but Janus I knew. Janus who was only ever kind to me, who only ever smiled at me. Janus who was a _POINTLESS_ fucking death. He was old, there was no reason to have shot him.

"Put me down." I told Percy. "Put me down!" I screamed. He obliged me and I emptied my stomach on the ground, but there was nothing in there and I could taste acid again. Just a saliva based substance that was vaguely colored yellow came up, and in abundance. I dry heaved once, threw up again, and then dry heaved a few more times. I don't know if I was angrier or sadder but it turned my blood to lightning.

Shakily I put my hands on the ground, then I twisted onto my knees and pain exploded all over my body but I ignored it. I raised one knee pushing up on it I got to my feet. It wasn't until I was standing completely and my whole torso was stretched did I almost black out. My vision turned white and everything spun but I caught myself. I caught myself and I stood up straight, feeling the pain and using it to fuel my anger.

"Nico…" Percy worried beside me.

"I need a gun." I said turning to look him in the eyes.

"You have to take it easy." He begged, and I knew he didn't want to lose me, but he had to understand that I—that we had to put a stop to this.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, Percy. But I need a gun. He'll be up in Len's office right now and we have got to stop him before anyone else I care about gets hurts." I replied.

"Here." Leo handed me his handgun. "It's not going to do me a lot of good: I'm left-handed, which made it hard enough for me to fire to begin with." I thanked him and I looked at Percy again.

"I have to do this." I said.

He looked as if he wanted to fight, but he shook his head instead, "You won't have to do it alone." Everyone around me nodded. I wiped at my eyes and only one thought burned in my mind: it was time to end this.

The ride to Len's office was longer than I remembered. I was doing my best to ignore the pain, which wasn't too hard considering it was an all over ache now. If it had been concentrated sort of thing it would have taken everything in me not to notice it, but that wasn't the case. I felt feverish, and my ribs hurt when I breathed too deeply but I couldn't let something like that stop me. I knew if I pushed too hard I would bleed through my bandages, if I hadn't already, but I couldn't think of that, or that my vision swam every time I took a step.

I couldn't close my eyes for relief, the faces of my dead friends plagued me when my eyes were shut. I felt helpless, I know they hadn't been relying on but I had still failed them, only slowed them down.

"Hey." Reyna was looking at me. "Nico, we lost a lot of people out there today." She said as the elevator continued to ascend. "My friends…a lot of my best friends are dead, and I don't know if I'll ever be the same again, but you need to listen to me." I looked at her, I really looked at her. And I saw how strong she was. Reyna and I hardly interacted but there was no denying that. Her side had to be throbbing but she looked unperturbed, only determined. "You've got a look on your face, one I've seen in the mirror on my own, and you need to stop doubting yourself. I don't know if you know this but you were our leader today, Nico. Percy might have physically led us but we went to war because Chiron finally broke the camel's back when he made you sick. You're up and around after almost dying, Nico. You're strong so stop with that self examination shit. People have died, but they died for the greater cause. We all knew this would happen eventually, so don't blame yourself."

I looked at her, a feeling of warmth rushing down my throat. "Reyna, I—" But the elevator dinged.

"Just remember that." She said cocking her gun.

Hazel, who was standing to my left, briefly grabbed my hand before she exited the elevator, giving it a tight squeeze. She, Leo, Reyna, and Frank were the only people from the Cloven camp who had survived the assault. I couldn't imagine what any of them were feeling but they were still going. I took a deep breath and I exited the elevator as well, Percy behind me was the last to get out. It dinged closed behind him.

All the lights were on in Len's office were turned on, and much like the first time we had been in here it was incredibly bright, not that I remembered much of that. His desk sat in the middle of the room, the entrance to his lab just to the left of that, closed. Everything was stark white and clean, so unlike everything else that had made up my day. Everything was in order, not an object out of place.

Well, something was out of place. Like the worst of toxics he sat in Len's chair, and though he wore no black he seemed to draw the very color out of the room with his presence. His hair was upswept as if he had been running his fingers through it and his eyes were beaded, calculating and small. His gaze was hard and his jaw was tight, but there was a smile on his lips. Such a calm, serene smile like he hadn't murdered so many people in cold blood. He didn't deserve to sit there. A great man sat in that seat and it sure as hell didn't belong to Chiron. Suddenly the gun in my hand was hoisted in the air. My nerves were screaming in pain at the sudden movement but I didn't care.

He had to die.

"Hello, gang." He grinned calmly. I pulled the hammer back on the handgun to make sure it was loaded, the sound of others doing the same let me know I wasn't the only with murder in my heart. "Just a moment, please. Keep calm, you don't want to kill me."

"Why the fuck not!" I screamed, though it was more of a hoarse screech. Just the sight of him had me tasting acid in my mouth again. My anger made me squeeze the grip of the gun harder, my finger itching the trigger. It would be so easy.

"Because, Nico, my dear boy, if you kill me you kill everyone else. Don't you know how this works yet? " He clicked his tongue, tutting, and he had the audacity to laugh.

"What did you do?" Frank growled to my right.

"You must be Frank Zhang," Chiron cocked his head, smirking. "Which would make you Leo Valdez, and Hazel Grace, such a lovely young woman. I have dossiers on each and every person in Leneus's little…troupe. Not full files you understand because that would be hard to acquire considering much of the information that goes into such a document has been lost thanks to my little disease—"

"Cut the shit, Chiron." Percy's voice was like a knife through soft flesh, Chiron stared at him with eyes that seemed to glow pure hatred.

"Yes. Perseus, the unexpected wrench in my design. You were a flaw I never saw, my boy. I thought I had you cow-toed, you would have been a great officer in my new regime. But, Nico, you would have been my lieutenant. You are so unassumingly smart, so persistent. Both of you annoy me greatly, and I do so love that about you." He stood now, pushing up on the desk and resting his palms flat he leaned forward. "Tell me something though, since neither of you wanted to work with me. Are you all breathing deeply? I hope so, because it's in the air."

It was in the air. The Mist was in the air. I felt the tension in the group double and it was as if no one even dared to breathe.

"You see, I've injected myself with the disease. I'm immune to it now thanks to discovering the cure and gestating it inside of Maron's body, he was the perfect conduit. The picture of health before all this began, really. But the disease and I have become one and the same, I breathe it into and it multiplies, it becomes stronger. And do you know the beauty of it? Only I know the cure." Chiron's dark, crazed eyes settled on me. "Well, it would appear I'm not the _only_ one who knows the cure, I did not give Leneus nearly enough credit I suppose, but I'll write that wrong soon enough."

"Where is Len?" Leo yelled.

"Oh, Gleeson and Dionysus are taking care of him in the laboratory." Chiron smiled. "You'll be happy to know that the majority of your comrades escaped. It would seem that there were scouts set up pending my arrival, they've all run to some sort of safehouse, but they won't survive long. Not without a leader, people are like cattle you see. They need to be led." He came around the desk and sat on the front of it, his feet still touching the floor as he casually relaxed in front of all seven of us toting our guns at him.

"Why did you do this?" Carter asked, he sounded almost broken. But it was understandable.

"Why? Why does anyone do anything, Carter Kane? I desired power. I created a weapon. I obtained power, it's as simple as that. There are still people out there, world leaders hunkered in their underground biodome beneath the UN, but I've taken precautionary measures against this as well. I have agents set up all around the globe, you see, people loyal to me from San Francisco to Tokyo. And they have not been idle, while I've been releasing my beautiful creation upon the world they've insured that the air ducts in the quote/unquote 'secret' places out there are hooked up with my disease. Once I contact the leaders of every nation I will become the most powerful man in the history of the world."

"You're insane."

"Perhaps, Ms. Grace. I've given it a lot of thought and I've come to the realization that I just don't care. If I'm insane then it seems more a problem for you than it does for me." He came forward, walking slowly, deliberately. His footfalls echoed loudly in the pin drop silence. He smirked again. "Oh, speaking of my mental health, or lack thereof, perhaps we should check on your beloved Leneus. I painted quite the picture for the boys, I want him to suffer, and if he isn't too old and has a bit of fight left in him I'm sure he's not quite dead yet. Gleeson, Dionysus, bring Lenus out here, if you would."

We watched, helpless, as the door slowly opened. I couldn't watch another person die. Not someone as kind to me as Leneus, who had cured me of my sickness so I could be with Percy again. I looked away, I just couldn't watch.

But, Chiron sounded surprised, "What?" He nearly growled, his teeth set on edge. I looked up. Silenus was coming through the door looking haggard and bloody. He had no sign of injury and I could only assume the blood wasn't his own. There was a shot gun in his hands.

"Who were you expecting?" He asked, "The fucking tooth fairy?" I watched in fascination as Chiron was blown back against the wall, I had barely even seen Sil cock the gun let alone fire it. "You come in here, you kill my friends, you try to kill my brother—" Leneus walked out next, his suit looking dapper and clean as always.

"That will do, brother." He said, his face grim and serious.

My mind was racing, unable to process what was going on. I was just as confused as Chiron had been. Leneus turned to look at us, but he did not smile or greet us warmly.

"I did not think you would be able to best him," He said simply. "You all don't know Chiron's mind like I do, he is clever and has outfoxed scholars twice his age. It is no fault of your own that he tricked you, so I set up a small ambush for his "thugs"." Silenus looked back over his shoulders into the lab, which made me curious. I looked toward the laboratory, it was dark in there but I could see one figure slumped against the wall like Chiron and one laying face down in a pool of blood. "They assumed, much like my former pupil, that because I am old I am weak. They were wrong and it cost them their lives."

But I still couldn't believe any of it. After all of our fighting, after the war at Halfblood, we hadn't even been the ones to end Chiron.

It wasn't a rush of disappoint so much as a relief in and of itself, still, it felt anticlimactic. Though in truth I think a bit of anticlimax was what I had truly needed, already I could feel the tension in my muscles unwinding.

"Sil, that was fucking awesome!" Leo nearly shouted, whooping and hollering his praise.

"We can't celebrate just yet," Leneus replied. "There is still the matter of extracting the cure from his blood, as I already know the processes in which to create an antidote it shouldn't take incredibly long." His eyes swept over us. "Seven." He said. "Seven of you have returned to me, most of you aren't even part of our family here." He sighed. "Charles and Silena?" Percy shook his head in the negative. "I feared as much."

"We need to make a sweep of the camp," Hazel said. "I know there were survivors."

"I'm sure there were." Leneus said in a quiet tone.

"And the others? The ones we sent back?" Percy asked, his face worried.

"They are safe within our own ranks, we took them in as we took you and Nico in, though we did have to prepare quickly for Chiron's arrival. The bus was a blessing in disguise, it allowed more room. Dakota loaded them quickly and no one was left behind."

"Except Janus." Frank said, his voice sounded raw.

"Yes," Len replied. "I gather he died, he was one of my oldest friends you know?" Leneus's eyes were red for a moment but he blinked. "Dwelling on what's done is going to get us nowhere, I will need a sample of Chiron's blood if I am to begin creating an antidote."

"I'll get it for you." I found myself saying. I may not have been able to cause him any physical harm but it was the last little victory I could win over him since Len and Sil had wrenched it away from me. And even though I should have been more let down I felt grateful for that. Len pulled a syringe from his jacket pocket, always prepared, though I think a part of him had planned this since he had left me on Halfblood's doorstep. "Len," I said quietly, unsure I wanted to know the answer. "How did you know Chiron would infect himself?"

Leneus looked at me, his eyes glimmering dangerously and in a dark, low voice he replied, "It's what I would have done." I felt a shiver roll down my spine, but I nodded and took the syringe. I made my way over to Chiron, kneeling down next to him I heard Len say, "Draw a liberal amount, it doesn't matter from where you obtain it."

I inserted the syringe into his neck and pulled the plunger backwards, filling the vial and I stood. The strangest thing happened when I began to walk back towards everyone though; Silenus moved again like lightning, his shoulder struck just under my ribs which jostled me and my wounds, making me cry out in hurt. He tackled me to the ground like that. There was the sound of a gunshot and belatedly I heard Percy screaming my name.

When I looked up again Chiron was standing, his eyes open and angry and he was very much alive.

"You're all so fucking stupid!" He was screaming though my ears rung; there was a gun in his hand that had not been there before and it was still smoking. His shirt was torn to pieces where Sil had shot him the first time and he ripped it off. Underneath he was wearing a Kevlar vest full of shotgun shells. Silenus groaned atop of me and Chiron kicked him off, then next thing I knew I was being yanked to my feet by my hair. "Okay," Chiron said. "Let's try thing again." The gun touched my temple, the metal was still hot and he pressed it hard into my head. "Put your guns down." I heard him load a bullet into the chamber, "NOW!" He screamed. I watched in horror as Percy was the first to put his weapon on the ground. The others followed suit until not a one of them was visibly armed. "My God, you boys have become more trouble than you're worth." His voice was right in my ear and I could feel my injuries reopen as he yanked again violently at my hair, twisting my body with it. I fought back, pulling in the opposite direction of his yanking but that only made him angrier. I don't know if he punched me or stuck me with the gun but for a long moment the world echoed around me and my vision was blurred. I knew that my nose was broken, and I was pretty sure he had chipped one or two of my teeth.

"We're not armed anymore, let him go!" Percy shrieked.

"Now, Percy, if I did that you people would try something funny and really I am no longer laughing." Chiron's hand went from gripping my hair to choking me, the hold on my neck successfully cutting off a great deal of my oxygen. He was leaving me just enough not to pass out. "I'm going to let you say good-bye to your boyfriend, Percy. I'm not a monster. From the looks of it Charles got to give his last words of love to Silena and I'm all about equality." I could hear the greasy smile in his voice, but not a lot was registering in my head. I clawed at his hand to no avail.

It always seemed that in these moments when I needed to be close to Percy the world held us apart. The last time I had been dying I hadn't even been conscious for him, and now I was just a few feet away from him but I couldn't reach out. I couldn't hold him. A horrible longing washed over me as I met his stare with my own. I missed our trip across the States, I missed hating him but secretly wanting him, I missed sleeping in hotel after hotel, house after house, and sometimes store after store with him. I missed our long rides and conversations, I missed learning about him. What I missed the most was feeling his arms around me, and to think that we had come this far made it hurt more than all of my physical aches combined. "Let him go." I wanted to tell Percy not to cry for me, but the tears streaking down his face were soon mirrored on my own. I didn't think I could cry anymore after today, that my tear ducts had dried up for certain, but here I was again, bawling in the face of death.

"I can't do that," Chiron replied, "he was living on borrowed time anyway. He should have died a few days ago when I infected him. He should be dead and now I'm going to see to it that he is." I knew he had a bullet in the chamber, and I wanted to watch Percy in my last few moments but I was scared. I'll admit that. I was terrified of dying. It was too soon. I had only just found my happiness.

It was too soon.

Just then the elevator opened, the ding like the sound of an Angel of the Lord arriving. I opened my eyes just fast enough to see two figures standing there that I knew to be dead. Or at least, that I thought were dead, but instead they both seemed to be hanging on. And they were both armed.

"Don't you people know how to stay fucking dead?" Chiron leveled his gun at the approaching couple and that was just the opportunity I needed. I threw my leg backwards as hard as I could, hitting him in the groin. I heard him intake a sharp breath of air; he was so disoriented that he fired his round into the ceiling. I used his pain to struggle out of his hold and I dropped to my knees rolling away ungracefully, but it was enough to be clear of him.

I saw Charlie smile as he unloaded the bulled that he had surely been saving just for this. One bullet and it lodged in the middle of Chiron's forehead. The man convulsed once, then he crumpled in on top of himself and dropped to the ground. We all gaped, expecting him to rise back to his feet miraculously at any moment but it became abundantly clear when blood started pooling underneath his body that he would not be getting back up any time soon.

"Nico," Len, who sounded unaffected by everything that had just happened, spoke, breaking the quiet of the room. "The syringe, and if you could please make sure my brother is still alive. He and I may still be fighting but I would hate for him to die." After that the day became a whirlwind of injections, relaying bandages, and setting broken bones.

It would take the better part of the day for all the events to line up as the truth in my head. Each one seemed more impossible than the last, but Charlie—who we had left to die with Silena—had shot and killed Chiron. When he had discovered from Silena that Chiron had injected himself and that he was coming to infect Leneus Charlie knew what they had to do. They hadn't been long behind us and it was a good thing they had shown up when they did.

No one really spoke, no one knew what to say. I stayed under Percy like a chick stays under a mama hen, holding close to his arm and hardly ever letting him out of my sight. "Why don't you boys go get some rest?" Leneus asked us. Percy thought it was for the best that we did and pulled me off towards our room.

When we got in there for what seemed like the first time in months I thought that there was no way I was going to be able to sleep, especially when Percy pulled off his shirt and pants. I traced my finger lightly along the stitches on his waist as we laid in bed together. He had also been shot in the shoulder, but it had apparently one grazed him there as well. I felt like I was stitched and bandaged from head to toe and he had come out virtually unscathed. That thought made me happy at least. He was okay.

Percy put his arm around me and gently sat me up, pulling off my shirt. I went to kiss him on the mouth but he only vaguely returned it, "M'sleepy." He said lowly in my ear, pulling me close. Always gentle, he would definitely be hard to break into getting our regular lives back if he was afraid I was going to break now, after everything we'd gone through. When I was more rested I would have to show him how okay I truly was.

But that was the thing, I wasn't particularly well rested and with him securely wrapped around me I knew I wasn't going to be conscious much longer.

"Hey, Percy," I said, my voice drawling and tired.

"Yes, baby?" He answered, kissing my back.

"I love you."

"I love you too." And then the world became a wash of warmth and comfort as I fell asleep.

Leneus had been in his lab two days, he had reworked the cure to fight all the different types of Mist that had been introduced into the air. Silenus was laying in Len's office, bandaged. He had taken a bullet intended for me and it didn't look like he would ever walk again. When his brother told him this he said, "Well it's a good thing the elevator works," Then he'd turned away and closed his eyes. I would probably never forgive myself for allowing that to happen, but Percy told me it wasn't my fault. I wanted to believe him desperately.

Silena was the first of us to receive the cure, followed by Charlie, then the rest of us. We rested for a few days after that, but sleep was hard for me to come by. I kept seeing their faces, the faces of my dead friends.

Dakota, Len's right hand man, had lead a party into Camp Halfblood and more of our friends than I had first thought had survived. It wasn't all of them, but it did lift a great deal of the weight off of my chest. I smiled at Zoe, who was sitting across from me at the lunch table. She smiled back a little. Everyone was beaten and bruised, but alive. Sadie and Walt had gotten together in the end, Drew was bristling at all the new prospective boys, Carter and Zia had reunited with kisses and tears. Hell, even Frank and Hazel had managed to kiss properly in the end. After a lot of blushing and side glances that is.

Leo, it turns out, went more for the blonds. He was currently tailing Dakota, trying to get him to share whatever was in that flask that looked and smelled suspiciously like wine.

But, most of all I was thankful to be with Percy again. I didn't ever want to leave his arms, couldn't imagine it. He held me close at the luncheon table, and I rested my head against his chest.

A part of me wanted to leave this place, to go back on the run and live out there in the world alone with Percy, our dog and our cat, and no worries. But I knew that wasn't going to happen. We had started a life here, and here we would stay with our friends.

No, with our family.

I smiled at that thought and I looked up into Percy's face. He glanced down at me and smiled back. The smile that had seen me through so much. I couldn't help it, newly wrapped bandages be damned, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and smashed out lips together. I felt him smirk, then he was kissing me back full force in a way that made me feel lightheaded. I was never going to get used to kissing him, and that made me try all the harder.

 _End_.


End file.
